My Life as a Ghost Hunter
by punkrocker4139
Summary: The story of a girl who joins the famous ghost hunting group, TAPS, and her adventures with them.
1. Introduction

So as the title showed, this is my life as a Ghost Hunter. So here are a couple things about me. My name is Devon Hall and I'm 22 years old. I have brown hair and green eyes. Okay, so enough about me, you wanna hear my chronicles, right? Ok, ok, we're getting there. But first, how I got into this whole thing. When I was 13, my mom died. Yeah, sad, I know. Anyway, the night after the funeral, my father killed himself. Terrible. You bet. Good thing I had my older brother, Josh. He was 20 so he took me in. A few weeks after my dad...you know... I heard a voice calling my name from where I sat playing my brothers Nintendo. I got up and followed it into the kitchen. There stood my mother. Or her ghost anyway. It vanished right as I turned to tell my brother. No body believed me. Until I ran into Jason Hawes. I met him in a coffee shop in downtown Chicago. We bumped into each other and I spilled my coffee all over him. What can I say? I'm clumsy. Anyhoo, I apologized and we got to talking. Turns out, he was there investigating a haunting right down the block from me. I told him about my mothers ghost and the rest is history. That was 2 years ago. So, let's take this whole thing from the beginning...


	2. Meeting Jason Hawes

_BEEP.BEEP.BEEP.  
_"Urgh!" I screamed as I grabbed my alarm clock off the bedside table and threw it across the room. Monday morning. God how I hate Monday's. I rolled out of bed and walked to my closet and pulled out a 'Yo This is My Shirt' t-shirt and grabbed a pair of jeans off the floor. I walked into the bathroom and took a ten minute shower. Small hot water heater. Consequences of living in a cheapo apartment building. Anyway, I got out and dressed, did make-up and what not and grabbed my AFI CD. I ran down the stairs of my apartment building almost running into like 17 people. I got down to my car and jumped in the driver seat. I started her up and popped in AFI. I turned it to Miss Murder and blared it. I was singing to it as I pulled up at the local Starbucks and went inside. I was still humming it as I ordered my drink.

"Hey Dev. Usual?" asked Mike, the cashier.

"Mmhm." I answered.

"Do you listen to anything besides AFI?" he asked me as he rang up my order.

"Taking Back Sunday. Those are my two obsessions right now. Plus, Adam Lazzara is my bitch." I said, paying him.

"Does he know this?" Mike asked, handing me my drink.

"No but he will soon." I said, turning around.

I was about to walk away when I bumped into this guy. But not just any guy. Jason Hawes. THE JASON HAWES. Yeah, I know. I watched the show devotedly. Every Wednesday. Ever since I saw my mom's ghost, I had a thing about ghosts. I wanted to find them. So this my chance. Jason Hawes, the founder of TAPS, was standing right in front of me.

Too bad he had my coffee all over him.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" I said.

"Hey, don't worry about it. It was an accident. Accidents happen." he said.

"Ha. Nice going Devon. Hey, you're the Ghost Hunters guy!" My brother Josh said, coming out of the back.

Yes, Josh works here at Starbucks. Good for the occasional free coffee.

"Yeah, I'm the Ghost Hunters guy." Jason answered, smiling.

"Oh well be careful of my sister Devon. She'll talk your ear off about our mom's ghost she saw 7 years ago." Josh said.

I turned around and whispered harshly, "Josh! Shut up!"

"Yeah, and she wants to be a Ghost Hunter just like you!" he concluded, laughing.

By now, I was bright red and about to run out the door.

"Really? Cause we're looking for a new techie and we're right down the block from here." Jason said, as me and Josh made faces at each other.

"What!" Josh and I asked at the same time, looking at him.

"Yeah. How well do you work with technology?" he asked.

"Um... well pretty good." I answered.

"Here, why don't we head back to the hotel we're investigating so I can change my shirt and we can talk on the way." he said.

"I'm really sorry about that." I said, pointing to his shirt.

"It's okay." he said as we got outside.

"So, how much do you know about this kinda thing?" he asked.

"Oh loads! I've looked this kinda thing up on the internet and I watch your show every Wednesday." I said, turning slightly pink.

"Well that's awesome. So you know how we run it then?" he asked.

"Yeah. Going in and trying to disprove it?" I said.

So he didn't think I was some creepy stalker kid?

"Yeah. I think you'll work out fine with us." he said.

We reached a small hotel a few blocks from my apartment.

"Hey! I live right near here!" I said. "I didn't know this place was haunted." I added as an after thought.

"According to the owners. So wanna come in and meet the crew?" he asked, opening the door for me.

Nice guy considering I just spilt my coffee all over him and probably ruined his shirt.


	3. The New Techie

"Can I have everyone's attention?" Jason asked as we stepped into the room.

"Did you get the coffee?" One of them asked. Brian I think. I never paid attention to their names.

"No but I did get a new techie. Guys, this is Devon" Jason said introducing me.  
Everyone came up and shook my hand as Jason told me who everyone was.

_I was right! It was Brian! Go me!_

"So how long have you been interested in this kinda thing?" Grant asked me.

"Ever since I was 13." I answered.

"What happened at 13? Personal experience?" Steve asked me.

"Um...yeah. Something like that." I answered.

They obviously saw that it was a sore subject for me, because they didn't push it.

"So Steve, Brian, and Tango. You wanna show Devon here the tech stuff?" Jason said.

"Sure. Let's go." Tango said.

I followed them into this room with a few computers and tech stuff here and there.

"So how much do you know about the technology?" Steve asked.

"Quite a bit." I said.

I will definatly fit in good here.


	4. There is a Half Naked Man in My Kitchen!

"Okay. So we have lights out in...3 hours. You're free to do whatever you want. Be back in 2 1/2." Jason said, looking at his watch.

"Okay. I'll be back. I have to go to my house, call my boss, apologize, and get some extra clothes." I said.

"Do you need someone to go with you so you can find your way back?" Grant asked.

"That might help." I said.

"Techies go with the new kid." Jay said.  
We got outside and began walking down the street.

"How far do you live?" Brian asked.

"Like three blocks from here." I answered.  
We finally arrived at my house and and started walking up all those steps.

"Damn kids! It's those damn Hall kids again!" an elderly old lady who hate's me and Josh screamed.

"Keep walking." I said as I tried to hurry while Brian, Steve, and Tango giggled behind me.

We finally got up to my apartment and I unlocked it and walked in.

"Hm. I don't remember leaving the TV on." I said. "You guys can just chill. Make yourself at home. I'll be right back." I said as I made my way to my bedroom.

And then a half naked man walked out of my kitchen.

"AAAHHHH!" I screamed as I fell down.

"Devon! Are you okay!" Steve asked as him, Tango, and Brian ran into the hallway were I was.

"Dammit Josh! What are you doing here!" I asked as I stood up.

"Eating." he said as he gestered towards the bowl of cereal in his hands.

"Why are you doing it at my house? In your boxers." I asked.

"Idunno." he said, his face stuffed.

"God you idiot! Get some clothes on!" I yelled.

"Who're they?" he asked, pointing towards the guys.

"My new co-workers. Now go home, Josh. Sorry about him." I said, turning to the other guys.

"No problem." Brian said, as they tried not to laugh.

I went back into my room and grabbed my Star Wars hoodie, a pair of pants, a shirt, and clean undergarments.

"Oh by the way, Dev, your boss called." Josh said when I got back out there.

"What'd she say?" I asked.

"She wanted to know why you weren't at work." he answered.

"Josh, what did you tell her?" I asked cautiously.

"I told her you had a tremendous hangover and that I couldn't find you under all the passed out bodies." he said laughing.

"Oh my god, Josh!" I said, burying my face in my hands. "Let's go." I said to the Ghost Hunter guys.

As I were walking out, Josh stuck his head out the door and screamed, "Hey Devon! I'm moving in with ya, K?"

I kept on walking while the others just laughed.

"Well now I don't have a job." I said.

"You think he was being serious?" Tango asked.

"Oh yeah. I know he was." I said.

"He'd really do that?" Steve asked.

"Oh yeah. That's Josh for you. He just doesn't care." I said as we got to the street.


	5. Newbie

"Okay Newbie, you'll go with me and Grant for a while, Tango and Steve'll go together, and Brian go with Andy. Clear?" Jason asked as we split up to go to our separate groups.

Murmurs of 'yeah' and 'ok' were heard throughout the whole group. I followed Jay and Grant inside the building holding the thermal imagining camera.

"Where should we go first?" Grant asked.

"Let's head into the basement." Jay said, turning left and heading towards the stairs.

I was walking and looking ahead but had the TIC in the corner of my eye. We had almost reached the basement when something caught my eye.

"Hang on a sec." I said, as I stopped and rewound the tape.

"What is it?" Grant asked as he and Jay came back to see what I was looking at.

We all huddled around the camera as I pressed play. We looked as a cold spot zoomed around on it for a second and then shot off the screen.

"What the frig was that?" Grant asked from my left. (I love his substitute swearwords! They crack me up!)

"I don't know. Go back frame by frame." Jay said from my other side.

I did as I was told and we watched again in slow motion.

"Not even ten minutes here and already we have something." Jay said as we continued to the basement.

I put the camera at the right place and followed them down the steps.

"So what other kind of activity did the owner say there was?" Grant asked.

"There have been reports of a party going on in the ball room and in room 218 the bed shakes and voices can be heard." Jason said.

"So do you think the party could be residual?" Grant asked.

"I think so. Remind me to look up the history when we get back, Newb." Jason said.

We continued walking for about an hour when Jason decided it was time to go back and switch me off so I could do some EVP work.

"Newbie, get on the walkie and tell everyone to meet outside by the vans." Jason said.

I did as I was told and soon we were all downstairs.

"Brian, you can take her and do some EVP in 218. You can change the tape in the cameras while you're in there. Steve, you and Andy can go over to the left side of the building. Tango, you go with Brian and Newbie." Jason said.

We all switched up groups and were on our way.

"Well we might as walk with you seeings how we're all going the same way." Andy said, catching up with us.

We walked in silence until we reached room 218.

"Well see you guys in a couple hours." Steve said as he and Andy continued walking.

"Okay I'll get the tape recorder set up. Will you change the tape, Devon?"

"Yeah. Can you give me light with your camera?" I asked Tango.

"Sure." he said as he followed me over to where the camera was.

I changed the tape and we were all set to do some EVPs.

"Okay. Well Time to get some sleep. We'll head back tomorrow. You," Jason said, pointing at me, "If you plan on being a permanent member, you'll need to look into moving closer to Rhode Island."

"Well quitting my job won't be hard considering my brother already did it for me." I said, walking away.

I heard laughing behind me and turned too looked at Tango and Steve.

"So turns out he did a good thing?" Steve asked.

"I guess so." I said, walking towards my apartment building.

I got there about 15 minutes later and trudged up the stairs to my apartment. I walked again and Josh was asleep on the couch. I grabbed a blanket and threw it over him. _'No one would ever believe he was 7 years older than me.' _I walked into my bedroom and layed down on my bed and fell asleep.


	6. A Doofus and a Sore Head

"Hey Devon! There are some people here to see you!" Josh shouted in my ear.

"AAAHHHHHH!" I screamed as I fell out of my bed, hitting my head on the bedside table on the way down.

"Haha. Doofus." he said, turning and leaving.

I got up and made my way out of my room and towards the living room, cursing at Josh under my breath on the way. I was still cursing when I looked up and saw the entire TAPS crew (or the ones that were in Chicago, anyway) standing in my living room.

"Um..." I stammered as I looked at them.

I had just realized I was still in my pajamas.

"See. I told you guys she wasn't a morning person." Josh laughed from the couch.

"Cram it, Josh! Um... not that I don't enjoy your guys company but what are you doing at my house at-" I looked at the clock on my wall "-9:30 in the morning?" I asked.

"We came by to tell you that we're going back to Rhode Island today but we'll be down in about a week to do the reveal and if you wanted help moving that would be the best time to do it." Jason said.

"Wait! We're moving to Rhode Island!" Josh said from the couch.

"Yes we're moving to Rhode Island. Well at least I am anyway. Why is that a problem for you?" I asked irritably.

"Nope. No problem." he replied, turning back to the TV.

I sighed and looked back at TAPS.

"Hey your forehead's bleeding." Steve said.

"Oh yeah it is. A lot." Grant said.

I reached up and felt a big gash in my head from where I had fallen. "See what you do to me, ya big idiot." I said to Josh.

"I'll be right back." I said to the other guys.

I walked into the kitchen and I heard Josh say to them, "Make yourselves comfortable."

I smiled. He could be immature sometimes but he knew how to be polite. I turned the water to the faucet on and stuck a rag under it. I put it to my forehead and it hurt so badly.

"SHIT!" I screamed as I dropped the rag.

"Is everything all right in there?" Brian asked.

"Yeah, ow, it just fucking hurt." I said, almost in tears.

"Here, let me help." Grant said walking into the kitchen

He picked up the rag off the floor and ran it under warm water.

"I have three little boys at home so I have to deal with this kinda thing all the time." he said.

He held the back of my head as he gently pressed the rag to my forehead. I winced and by now, everyone had come to watch. Including Josh.

"See what you do to me, dummy?" I said as Grant cleaned the cut.

"Oh shut up you big sissy. It's not that bad." he replied.

"It isn'ttoo bad. But I think we need a bandage." Grant said.

I looked over towards Josh and nodded for him to go to the bathroom and get it. He walked away and then I noticed Tango looked like he was about ready to throw up.

"Tango, are you all right?" I asked, looking concerned.

"I gotta get outta here." he said, turning and walking away.

Brian and Andy followed him to see if he was okay. That left me, Grant, Jason, and Steve in the kitchen. I then realized that they were all at least a head taller then me and that I was really short. God, I am so freaking ADD.Josh came back with the bandage and handed it to Grant.

"There you go. All better." Grant said after he had put it on.

We all walked out to the living room where the other guys sat on the couch. Tango was really pale and staring straight ahead at the wall.

"Is he gonna be okay?" I whispered to Steve.

"Yeah. He'll be fine." he replied.

"Well thanks for coming by, guys, and thanks for fixing my head, Grant, and I guess I'll see you in a week?" I said.

"Yeah. We'll call you to let you know when we're coming." Jason said.

"Okay so I'll give you my number. Anybody got a pen?" I asked.

Brian reached into his pocket and handed one to me.

"Anyone got a piece of paper?" I asked.

Everyone dug around in their pockets but came up with nothing.

"Fine. Anyone got a hand?" I asked.

They all looked at each other so I beckoned Andy forward. He held out his hand but I instead grabbed his head. I wrote in big letters across his forehead '828-734-1102' and under that 'Devon's cell'.

"You can transfer it to paper when you get a chance." I said as everyone tried not to laugh at what I did.

"Well we'll make sure Andy is around when we decide to call you." Steve said with a laugh as they all walked out the door.

"You're such a dork." Josh said.

"Well I am related to you." I said as I walked back to my bedroom to try and catch some sleep.

Two Days Later

"Hey so when we moving to Rhode Island!" Josh yelled up the stairs.  
"Whenever they call me! Do you have all your crap packed from your apartment!" I yelled back from the computer in my room.

"Yeah. Most of it's just junk when you think about it so we can pick it up on the way there. The rest I can just leave." he said, coming into my room and lying down on the bed.

"Oh that's nice." I replied absentmindedly.

"What are you doing anyway?" he asked, looking over my shoulder.

"Looking for a job." I said.

"I need one too." he responded.

"I'm gonna talk to Mike and get him to transfer you over to a Starbucks there." I said.

"Oh sweet. Thanks, Evan." he said, kissing the top of my head dramatically.

"Hey, do you think you can come help me pack after you get off tonight?" I asked as he got up to leave.

"Yeah. Around seven, okay?" he said.

"Yeah. That sounds great." I smiled.

Wow. Josh being a normal big brother. That hasn't happened in almost eight years.


	7. One Week Later

**One Week Later**

"Devon, it's time to wake up." a voice said in my ear.

"Five more minutes." I replied sleepily.

"No now." the voice said, getting louder.

"I said five more minutes." I responded, getting angry.

"Well I said now!"

By this time, I had realized it was Josh and I was about ready to sit up and punch him in the face when he grabbed my ankles and pulled me off the bed. I landed with a loud thump as He ran out the door laughing.

"You're gonna pay for this, CENSERED." I muttered to myself.

I ran out into the hall and jumped on his back.

"AHHHH! get off of me, you crazy woman!" Josh screamed as he ran down the hall, swatting at me on his back.

"Don't wake me up so early then!" I screamed back.

"You're wanted on the phone!"

"Well why didn't you just say so?!" I yelled.

I got off his back and ran to the phone.

"Hello?  
_  
Hello Devon? This is Jason. I was just calling to tell you that were gonna be back in town in about two hours and Grant and I are going to do the reveal and were sending Steve and Brian to go over and help you pack everything into the cars. Is that okay?"  
_  
"Uh...Yeah that's fine."  
_  
"Okay we'll see you then."_

CLICK

I pulled the phone away from my ear and looked down at it. I went to get to set it down on my charger when it rang again.

"Hello?"  
_  
Hello, I'm calling for a Joshua Hall?  
_  
"Um he's not here right now, can I take message?" I asked, feeling mean.  
_  
"Yes I was calling to inform him that his application was approved for the house in Rhode Island."_

"Oh okay, I'll let him know." I said as I hung up.

I was about to walk away when the phone rang again.

"Hello?" I asked.  
_  
Hello is Devon Hall there?  
_  
"Uh yeah that's me."  
_  
Hi This is Matt from Reality Music Store in Rhode Island. I was just calling to let you know that we reviewed your application and we'd like it if you were to come work for us._

"Oh my god! Really?! I mean...thank you for the opp-"  
_  
Ah don't worry about all the fancy-shmancy stuff. I was excited when I first got my job here too.  
_  
"Haha. Okay. So when do I start?" I asked excitedly.  
_  
Um... Is Monday good for you? _he asked as if looking at a calander or something.

"Yeah Monday is great." I said.

What's today? Friday I think?  
_  
Okay cool. Well I'll see you then!_he said as he hung up.

What is with people hanging up on me today?I hung up the phone again and was on my way to get some well deserved breakfast when

the phone rang for the billionth time. So naturally, I was pissed.

"Hello?" I said in a terribly sweet voice so unlike my own.  
_  
Uh hello. Is this Devon?_ the voice asked.

"Yes. Who is this?" I said in the same horribly sweet voice.  
_  
This is Brian. Me and Steve are going to be there in like ten minutes._ he said

"Ten minutes? Jason said you'd be here in like an hour." I replied.  
_  
Steve speeds. _he answered simply.

"Uh yeah. I guess so." I said.

Okay so anyway we'll be there shortly. If Steve can remember where he's going.

I know where I'm going. I got the directions off Mapquest. I heard Steve say in the background.

It was silent for a moment on both sides of the phone and suddenly Brian and I both burst out laughing at the same time.

"Okay well I'll see you guys soon." I said as I hung up the phone, still laughing.

I went into the kitchen and started rummaging through the cabinets searching for food. I decided on a bagel so I popped it into the toaster and got out the tomato and mayonaise. I put the stuff on the counter and went to go get dressed. I pulled on a pair of jeans and my Star  
Wars T-shirt that I had left unpacked specifically for today. I went back into the kitchen and made my bagel up and started thinking how weird it was that Josh was being so quiet. I finished my breakfast and walked into Josh's room to see what he was doing. He was laying sprawled out on his bead in nothing but his boxers and a pair of socks. He was also snoring quiet loudly. I decided to be the bigger manand wake him up nicely.

"Josh? Josh?" I said slightly shaking him.

"What?" he asked, still half asleep.

"Brian and Steve are going to be her any minute now. We're gonna have to start packing our stuff up." I said.

"Okay. I'm up." he said, rolling over and out of his bed.

This was Josh way of getting up. It happened every morning. He stood up and I walked out to let him get dressed. I sat down on the couch and waited for either him to come out or the guys to show up. The latter happened first. They knocked on the door and I stood up from my curled up position on the couch to answer the door.

"Hey guys." I said, opening the door wider to let them in.

They both murmered a quick hello and stepped in.

"So where do we start?" Steve asked.

"We should probably start with the big stuff and work our way down." josh said, coming into the living room.

"Hey Josh." Brian and Steve said at the same time.

"Yeah. That sounds like a good idea." Brian said.

"Alrighty then. Devon, you go into the hall and navigate us or whatever." Josh said.

"Why me?" I asked.

"Because you're a girl." he stated simply.

"Sexist pig." I said as I made my way out to the hallway.

They decided to go with the couch first and were having some difficulty getting it through the door. They finally got it through and on the way down Josh said, "Thanks for the help, Navigator."

"Anytime, friend." I said, following them down the stairs.

  
FOUR HOURS LATER

"Well that's the last of it." I said, standing in my now empty apartment.

"Wow. How long have we lived here?" Josh asked.

"You've lived here for a week. I've lived here for three years." I said, smiling sadly.

I loved this apartment. It was where I got drunk for the first time, where I beat Josh at his stupid video game and made him cry, and where I lost my virginity. I'm not going into that. Don't even ask. Although he was hot.

"Are you okay?" Steve asked, waving his hand in front of my face.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine." I replied.

I must have had that glazed over look in my eyes.

"I wonder where Jason and Grant are. I know the reveal doesn't take four hours." Brian said.

"Somebody call them." Josh said.

Steve pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number. I walked into my bedroom to check and see if I left anything. I was looking around when I realized I had totally spaced from cleaning out the hall closet. I walked into the hallway and open the closet door and...

  
NO ONE'S POINT OF VIEW

Steve was standing in the corner, talking to Jason or Grant, and Josh and Brian were talking about god knows what when suddenly a scream came from the hallway and a thud as if a body hit the floor.

"Devon?" Josh cried cautiously, as if he knew that the reason she screamed was because of him.

Sure enough, when she came storming into the living room, she was glaring at him.

"What the hell is that?" she asked, pointing over her shoulder into the hallway.

"I don't know, Devon. You should probably specify." he answered, knowing already that he had crossed her line. That was always so easy.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." she said through clenched teeth.

"Okay, don't be mad, Devon, but I had to have some place to put it and I was gonna get it out soon." he replied.

"So you decided to put it my closet?!" she yelled.

Josh looked away, trying to distract himself with something else. Brian was staring at the ceiling and Steve was staring at Devon and Josh, his mouth hanging open slightly and the phone seeming to slip from his grasp.

(I'm not going to say what "it" is just for the suspense of it. Use your imagination. That's what those little pea brains are for).

  
DEVON

How dare he! Yeah. It was pretty bad. He looked at me with those puppy dog eyes of his and I pointed to the closet. He understood that was his cue to go get whatever the hell it was out out of there.

"Take a garbage bag. That way you don't have to touch it very much." I said.

He grabbed one of the left over bags and walked into the hall.

"What was it?" Steve asked, the phone still on his ear.

"You don't want to know. Is that Jason or Grant?" I said.

"What?" he asked.

"On the phone." I replied, pointing to his ear.

"Oh yeah. He hung up like 5 minutes ago. I was to preoccupied to hang it up I guess." he said, snapping the phone shut.

"So what's going on?" Brian asked.

"They're going to meet us here in 15 minutes." he replied.

Josh came into the living room with the black trash bag and went straight to the door without saying a word to anyone. Brian, Steve, and I all loooked at each other and followed suit.


	8. New Kids on the Block

"Well this is it." I said as we pulled up in front of my new house.

"Kinda small, isn't it?" Josh asked.

"Well there's only me going to be here so it doesn't need to be big." I replied.

We walked up the sidewalk to the door and I stooped down to get the key from under the mat.

"Not a very safe place to keep a key." Steve said.

I unlocked the door and walked inside. We all looked around and stepped off in opposite directions.

"Wow. This is either a really big closet or a very small bedroom." Brian yelled from across the house.

I started walking that way to see what I was talking about when I spotted the bathroom. And it had a Jacuzzi tub.

"Holy shit!" I screamed, running in and jumping in it.

"Nice tub." Steve said, coming into the bathroom and climbing in with me.

"Wow! It's as big as a freaking pool!" Josh said, walking into the bathroom and almost nose diving into the tub.

After a few minutes, Brian finally showed up.

"This house is bigger than it looks on the outside. Having a party in the tub I see?" he said, making the tub capacity four.

We all sat for a few minutes, messing around with different things when Grant came into the doorway.

"Hey the van is outside with the rest of your-What the heck are you guys doing?" he asked, finally realizing where we were.

"No idea." Steve said as he stood up.

Josh and Brian stood up and I grabbed onto my brother and pulled myself up. We all climbed out of the tub and walked outside.

"So where are we driving your stuff to, Josh?" Grant asked.

"Right there." he said, pointing across the street.

"Are you serious?" I asked, looking at him.

"I wanted to be close to my little sister!" he said, grabbing me and hugging me.

"Get off me, you big dummy!" I shouted, trying to push him away.

He finally let me go and I stood up straight and brushed myself off.

"Hey. Where did Jason go?" I asked.

"He had to get home. So you want us to sort your stuff?" Grant asked.

"No. Just pile everything here and me and Josh can sort it." I said.

Everyone started to take the stuff out of the back of all the vehicles and set it on the sidewalk.

"Well that's the last of it." Brian said, setting the last box down after about an hour.

"Thanks for helping us move." I said as everyone was getting back into their respective vehicles.

"No problem. You kids are family now." Grant said, starting up his van.

They all pulled away and Josh and I started to sort the boxes right there on the sidewalk.

"I'm hungry. Let's go get some lunch." Josh whined after 20 minutes of sorting and bringing boxes into the  
right house.

"We can't just leave this stuff here. Somebody might take it." I said.

"Then order take out." he said.

"I don't have a phone book." I replied.

"Then I'll go get the food and you stay here with the stuff." he said.

"Fine. But you better hurry." I said as he jumped into the Hummer.

I knew it was better to let him go and not be back for twenty minutes rather than leave him here because he probably would leave anyway. I went back to carrying boxes in when I saw someone staring at me from the sidewalk out of the corner of my eye.

"Are you going to stand there staring at me all day or offer to help?" I asked turning around.

I had to hold back a gasp. Staring at me was a tall, handsome man with dark hair and icy blue eyes.

"Well I don't know. It looked like you had everything under control when that one guy was here." he said.

"What? My brother? He's no help." I said, struggling to pick up one of my boxes.

"Here. Let me help." he said as he stepped forward and lifted the box out of my hand.

He carried it inside and sat it down in the middle of the living room.

"Nice house." he said, looking around.

"Thank you. Now may I inquire so much as your name?" I asked.

"Adam. Adam Hedland." he said, turning and looking at me. "And may I have the pleasure of knowing your name, fair lady?" he asked.

I laughed as I held out my hand for him to shake. "Devon. Devon Hall." I laughed.

"Hm. Nice to meet you Devon." he said, shaking my hand.

"Uh what's going on?"

Adam and I both turned to look in the direction of the voice. Josh stood in the doorway, holding two bags of Chinese take-out.

"Uh Josh this is Adam from-where are you from exactly?" I asked, turning towards him.

"Down the street. I live with my grandma." he said.

"Okay... and Adam, this is my brother Josh." I said.

"Nice to meet you." Adam said stepping forward to shake hands with Josh.

Josh just stood and glared at him.

"Apparently not." Adam said, retracting his hand awkwardly.

"Just kidding man. Nice to meet you." Josh said, now extending his own hand.

I shook my head in exasperation as they shook hands.

"So you live with your grandma. Why?" Josh asked bluntly.

"Josh!" I said, hitting him.

"Because she's old and senile and nobody else would so I got stuck with it." he said.

"Good enough reason as any." Josh said, shrugging.

"So it looks like you two need some help moving in. Want me to call for some back up?" he asked.

"Sure. That'd be great." I said.

Twenty minutes later a big blue van pulled up in front of our house. 2 guys and a girl all piled out.

"Adam!" one of the guys screeched and ran to hug Adam.

He picked him up off the ground and spun him around.

"You better put him down, Trick, or you might hurt yourself." the girl said, laughing.

"Are you implying that I'm fat?" Adam asked.

"I don't know. Maybe." she replied, winking.

"So these are the new kids on the block? Oh my. Did I just say that?" the one, Trick said.

"Yes they are. Devon, Josh, this is Patrick Hanson, Ellie Sattler, and Lucas Dentz." he said pointing to each one respectively.

After all the introductions, we all started carrying boxes into their respective houses. And after about an  
hour, we were done.

"Oh man. I think this calls for a celebration. Who wants to go on a beer run?" Patrick asked, flopping down  
on my couch.

"And by who wants to go on a beer run, you obviously mean me." Lucas said.

"You and Ellie of course." he replied.

"Oh thanks." Ellie said.

She and Lucas stood up and walked out of the house.

"I'm underage, you know." I said randomly.

Patrick and Adam looked at me in surprise.

"Really? How old are you?" Patrick asked.

"20." I replied.

"Oh. Close enough. I don't have to feel bad for letting a minor drink." Adam said, leaning back into the couch.

"I'm 22. Adam here is 24. Ellie is 23 and Lucas is 23 too." Patrick said, rattling off everyone's age.

"My brother is 24 too. Speaking of, where is he?" I asked.  
(I changed his age. Don't care if it fits in with the story. Get over it.)

"I think he went over to his house." Adam said as Josh burst through the door.

"Guess not." Patrick and I said at the same time.

We turned to look at each other and laughed.

"Where did the one guy and the hot girl go?" he asked.

"They have names you know." I said as Patrick and Adam burst out laughing.

"I know but it's so much easier calling them that then trying to remember their names." he said.

He sat on the floor in front of me and rested his back on my legs. A few minutes later, Ellie and Lucas came back with the beer.

"That was quick." I said as they walked in.

"There's a convience store right up the road." Lucas said, handing me a beer.

They passed around the rest of the beer and the night of fun began.


	9. The New Girl Again

I woke up on Monday and started getting ready. I got dressed and applied make-up and did all the other things that are involved in getting ready for work. I walked out into my living room and saw Patrick asleep on my couch. What can I say? We all became fast friends. I ate some breakfast, which included a bagel, and went back into the living room.

"Patrick." I said, kneeling beside the couch and shaking him slightly.

"Hm?" he mumbled, barely stirring.

"I'm leaving for work now. There's food in the kitchen and leftovers in the fridge. If you leave, lock the door and the spare key is under the rock right outside. Put it back when you're done." I said, standing back up.

"Mh hm." he said as he snuggled back into the couch.

I walked outside and got into the Hummer. Josh had the Cougar at his house. I drove around downtown looking for Reality Music Store and found it in like ten minutes. I parked and walked in. The store was a little bigger then it looked on the outside. I walked to the front desk and saw a guy bent over some paper work. He was kinda short, with brown hair falling around his bent face. He looked up and smiled at me. When he stood up, I was surprised to see he only had a few inches on me. Usually people are like a foot taller than me.

"Hi. I'm Piers. You must be Devon?" he said, shaking my hand.

"Yeah." I said as two people walked out from the back room, laughing.

"Matt, Kristen, the new girl is here." Piers said.

They saw me and smiled.

"Ah. Devon Hall. Nice to finally meet you. I see you've already met Piers. This is Kristen." he said, pointing to the girl.

I shook all of their hands and smiled.

"Do you all work here?" I asked.

"Yep." Piers said, bent over his paper work once again.

"Okay. Well I've got some paperwork to do so Kristen will be training you." Matt said, walking back towards the back.

"It's so great you showed up when you did. We were starting to get shorthanded." Kristen said, hopping onto the counter.

"I'm glad I could be of some assistance." I said.

She laughed and jumped off the counter.

"Well there isn't much to do except for putting away CD's. They go in alphabetical order so I'm sure you can handle that. There's the cash register and if you need help I'll be here. When bands come in for CD signings, there's usually big crowds of crazy fan kids so bring in your mace. And that's all the training you need as of right now." she said, smiling.

"Well that doesn't sound so hard." I said, returning the smile.

"So where did you move here from?" she asked randomly.

"Chicago." I said.

"Wow. Big move. Why?" Piers asked, looking up from his paperwork.

"I just started work with the Ghost Hunters." I replied.

"Really? My cousin works with them. His name is Dave Tango. You know him?" Kristen asked.

"Yeah. I met him in Chicago when they were up there." I said.

"Cool cool." she replied.

The day went by pretty quickly with only one or two customers coming in. I left around 5 and made my way home. I pulled up outside the house and walked in. Josh, Adam, Patrick, Ellie, and Lucas were all sitting on my couch watching TV.

"Hello. Not to be rude or anything, but why is everybody at my house?" I asked.

"My house isn't unpacked yet." Josh said, his eyes not leaving the TV.

"Josh it's been two days." I said.

"So?" he replied.

"Whatever." I replied walking towards my room.

"Aren't you going to sit and watch TV with us?"

I turned around and Adam was flashing me a sweet smile.

"I want to change into something comfortable first." I said, smiling back.

"Oh by the way. Someone named Donna called earlier." Patrick said.

"Did you leave at all today?" I asked.

"Yeah. My parents let me come home for a few minutes to get some clothes." he said, pointing to a pile in the corner of the living room.

I sighed and grabbed the phone on the way to the bedroom. I dialed the TAPS number and Donna picked up.

"Hey someone said you called." I said.  
_  
Yeah. Brian found a case he's excited about and Jason and Grant decided to take it on. It's in Connecticut and Jason said there's a meeting tomorrow around noon to discuss it._

"Okay. That's around my lunch break."  
_  
Okay. Well I'll see you then._

"Okay. Bye."__

Bye.

I hung up the phone and changed into my pajama's and headed back into the living room. I sat down in front of Josh and rested my back on his legs.


	10. Four Months Later

So it's been about four monthes since I last updated you and so much has happened. First off, I've been on six cases with TAPS and everyone of them has been great. My brother has been pretty much inducted in and is really taking an interest in it. Patrick has pretty much become my unofficial roomate and I found out that he and Piers from work are fraternal twin brothers so Piers hangs out at the house alot. I have become great friends with all the new people I've met, including Kristen and Matt from work. It's usually just me, Patrick, Adam, Piers, Ellie, Lucas, and my brother hanging out at my house though. Oh. Josh and Ellie have been dating for about 3 and a half monthes. Go figure. It was quiet in the house now, with Josh and Ellie doing god knows what, Adam taking his grandma to the doctor, and Piers working. So it was just me, Lucas, and Patrick hanging out.

"Is there anything on at all?" Lucas asked as he flipped through the channels.

"Apparently not. This is boring. I'm bored. Let's go bug my brother." Patrick said.

"No because if we go over there, Matt might make me work." I said, grabbing the remote from Lucas and taking my turn in flipping through the channels.

The TMNT cartoon was on so I stopped on that.

"Are you serious?" Lucas asked.

"Hell yeah. TMNT rules." I said, my eyes glued to the TV.

"What time is it?" Patrick asked.

"Like 11 or something." Lucas said, now focused intently on the TV.

The show sucks you in.

The phone began to ring in the kitchen and when it became obvious that neither Lucas or I were going anywhere, Patrick sighed and went for the phone.

"Hey Devon. It's for you!" he called.

I pushed myself off the couch and headed to meet him in the kitchen. He handed me the phone and walked back into the living room.

"Hello?" I said, putting the phone to my ear.  
_  
"Hey. This is Donna. We've got another case in Indiana. Interested?"_

"Heck yes! When is the group meeting?" I asked excitedly.  
_  
"At about 12:30 today. Is your brother going to want to go?"_

"I don't know. I'll call him and ask him."  
_  
"Okay. Well I'll see you at 12:30." _

"Okay. Talk to you then." I said as I hung up the phone.

I dialed Josh's number and to no surprise, Ellie answered.  
_  
"Hey girlie! What's up?!_

"Nothing much. Is Josh around?"  
_  
"Yeah. Hang on._

I waited not-so-patiently for Josh to get on the phone, playing with my hair, flipping through a magazine, until he finally got on the phone.

"Took you long enough." I said with a huff.  
_  
"What do you want?" _he asked, slightly annoyed.

"We got a case in Indiana and the meeting is at 12:30. You gonna go?" I asked, suddenly becoming serious.  
_  
"Yeah. Do you wanna go together?" _

"Yeah. I'll be over there in an hour."  
_  
"Okay. Love ya, bye."_

"Love ya, bye." I said as I hung up.

I walked back into the living room and sat down on the couch with Lucas in the middle. We continued watching cartoons until it got to be 12. As if on cue, my brother and Ellie burst through the door.

"Hey guys." Ellie said, sitting down in between me and Lucas.

"Hey Ell-" was all I got to say before Josh was pulling me to my feet.

We were out the door and I was shoved into the passenger seat of the Hummer bfore I had even realized what had happened.

"In a hurry much?" I asked, glaring over at him.

"I'm starving and I wanted to get something to eat before we got there." he said.

"Oh. Gas station microwave burrito's as usual?" I asked.

"Sounds delish." he said as he pulled into a gas station.

Fifteen minutes later, we were back on your way to TAPS headquarters. Josh pulled into the back parking lot and we went in through the side door.

We walked in and went into the "meeting room". I saw that Steve, Brian, Tango, and Donna were already there.

"Hey guys." I said as Josh and I took the seats set out for us.

We all made small talk until Jason and Grant showed up.

"I guess we're all here then." Grant said, smiling.

"Is Andy and Dustin not going then?" Josh asked.

"Nope. Just us." Jason said.

"Donna. You wanna take from here?" Grant asked.

"Okay. So this is in northern Indiana. A town called Huntington to be exact. It's a husband and wife and teenage son and they say there's an apparition and disembodied voices." Donna said, reading off her notepad.

"So when are we leaving?" Steve asked.

"We'll head out day after tomorrow." Jason replied.

Well. This should be interesting.


	11. Here Buttface! Take Your Stupid Stuff!

"Are you all packed and ready to go?" I asked my brother the night before we left for Indiana.

"Yeah. Ellie packed my bag earlier today." he said, eyes glued to the TV.

"Okay well we're leaving early so you might want to head in early." I said

"Yeah okay. Can I stay here?" he asked.

"If you want to sleep on the floor. You know Patrick takes the couch." I replied.

"Where is he anyway?" he asked, looking around.

"He and Piers were hanging out tonight." I replied.

I decided I would run a few errands since it was only six so I pulled on my coat and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Josh asked, looking up at me.

"I have to go give a house key to Adam so he can check and see that Patrick didn't destroy the house, I have to go grocery shopping for Patrick, and then I have to go check up at work to make sure I'm still off." I said, looking for the keys.

I found the Cougar keys first so I picked them up and walked out the door. I drove down to Adam's first and knocked on the door.

"Hello?" a frail old voice asked.

"Hello Mrs. Hedlund. Is Adam here?" I asked her politely.

"No. I think he's on a date." she said.

"Oh. Well can you give him this key for me? Tell him it was from Devon." I said, offering out the house key.

"I like you. I'd rather him date you." she said as she took the key.

"Haha. Well..." I said awkwardly.

"Grandma? Who's at the door?" I heard a voice call out from inside the house.

"None of your damn business!" she yelled as she shut the door.

I stood there and looked at the closed door for a second when it opened again.

"Devon? I'm so sorry about that. Do you have the key?" Adam asked.

"I gave it to your grandma. She said you were on a date so I figured I'd give it to her and she'd give it to you." I said.

"Oh well You'll never get that key back. I'll just get Patrick's." he said, smiling.

"Okay. Well I've got a couple more errands to run. You're welcome to tag along if you want. I can tell you're not having much fun here but we have to hurry because I have to get home and get in bed early tonight." I said.

" I'll grab my coat." he said, smiling.

* * *

"And then he said, 'You better watch yourself, Hedlund. You never know what lurks around the corner.' And I was like 'Yeah. Thanks for the memo.'" Adam laughed as he finished telling one of the funniest stories I'd ever heard.

"Oh my god." I said, choking on my laughter.

We pulled into my driveway and got out of the car. Judging by the cars that were already in the driveway, Lucas was here and Piers and Patrick were back. We walked in the house and I saw everyone hanging out on my couch watching TV.

"Where's Josh and Ellie?" I asked as I noticed they weren't lounging around too.

"You guys are going to be gone for two weeks. Where do you think?" Piers asked, lying on the floor.

"Oh. Right." I said, sitting down beside him and pulling Adam down with me. After about fifteen mindless minutes of watching cartoons, I stood up to go call my brother. He didn't answer. No surprise there.

"Lucas, go tell my brother I want to talk to him." I said, walking back into the living room.

"Why?" he asked, looking at me funny.

"Because he's not answering the phone."

"Okay. Whatever. Be back in a minute." he said, standing up and walking out the door.

"What's the real reason you sent him over there?" Patrick asked, looking down at me from the couch and smirking.

"You'll see." I said, smirking right back.

Sure enough, ten minutes later, Lucas burst into the house and glared at me.

"I'm gonna kill you." he stated simply.

Everyone looked at him in confusion until he lunged over Adam to try and pin me down.  
I jumped up and ran away, laughing at his failed attempt to get me. I ran out the open door that he had not bothered closing and into the backyard. I hid behind a tree and by now it was dark so I knew it would be hard to find me. Seconds later, I could make out four dark shapes come into the backyard.

"Devon, I know you're back here. Come out now and I won't hurt you as bad." Lucas called.

"So I take it you saw them doing it?" Patrick asked.

"Gee how'd you guess?" Lucas said sarcastically.

Everyone laughed at this and started to walking further into the backyard. They all spread out looking for me. Adam began to get closer and closer to my tree until I was sure he was going to see me. Sure enough, he stumbled upon me. I put my finger to my lips and he smiled and nodded. He turned around and walked away. I let out a small sigh when I felt two arms snake around my waist.

"Gotcha." Lucas whispered in my ear.

"ADAM I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" I screamed as Lucas dragged me from behind the tree.

"What? I didn't do anything." he said, smiling and shrugging.

I just glared at him.

"Now what should we do to her?" Lucas asked, smirking at me.

I can't believe this! He was the nice, sweet, shy, innocent one! What happened?

"I've got an idea. Lucas, stay out here and don't let her go. Guys, follow me." Patrick said,  
smirking at me and making Adam and Piers follow him back into the house.

I'm starting to hate smirking.

"That was really mean you know." Lucas said, still smirking.

"Yeah. Well it was funny." I said, trying to cross my arms but failing.

We stood out there about 15 minutes when Patrick came back out.

"Lucas! Drop her and run back into the house!" Patrick screamed across the yard.

"Sorry love." Lucas said as he dropped me to the ground and sprinted around to the front of the house.

I got up and ran around to the front just as the door was slammed shut. I knew it was locked but had the urge to try and open it. I was right. I went over to the window and knocked on it. Patrick opened a little so there was enough room to speak out of.

"Yes, my dear?" he asked sweetly.

Sweet my ass.

"Did you lock all the windows like I think you did?" I asked.

"Yes." he answered simply.

"Are you going to leave me out here all night?" I asked boredly.

"That was the plan. Yeah." he said, smiling.

"Can you at least give me some blankets and pillows. I'll sleep in my car."

"Why don't you go over and stay with Josh and Ellie?" Lucas asked, putting his face up next to Patricks.

"You know exactly why, you little devil you." I said, smirking.

"Adam. Go into her bedroom and get the blankets and pillows off her bed." Patrick turned around and ordered.

Minutes later, I was being handed my beds contents through the window.

"Have a good night!" Patrick laughed as he shut the window.

I took my stuff over to the car and opened the door. I was about to make a bed in the back when I realized that would be really uncomfortable. (It's got the weird middle seat in the back. Or doesn't have a middle seat. The two are separated. Just thought I'd let you know in case you were confused) I grabbed the keys to the Hummer out of my pocket and walked over to Josh's. I climbed in, started her up, and drove into my driveway. I stopped it and climbed out. After finally getting all of my stuff settled into the Hummer, I went to go get in when Adam walked out of the house quickly as the door slammed behind him.

"Do you want to come stay with me?" he asked, looking at your makeshift bed in the back.

"Nah. I have to be here when the guys show up in the morning. I'll be fine." I smiled at him and he smiled back.

"Well I guess I'll just see you in a couple weeks then." he said as he leaned in and kissed my cheek.

He smiled at me again and walked away as I felt a slight blush creep into my cheeks.

* * *

"Devon?"

I sat up straight at the sudden voice beside my head. I turned around and there was Grant looking at me with the Hummer door open.

"Hey..." I said, rubbing sleep out of my eyes.

"What are you doing at here?" Brian asked as he walked up behind Grant.

"Long story." I mumbled as I slid out of the car.

I walked over to the front door and started banging on it.

"Patrick! Let me in! I have to leave!" I yelled as I walked away.

"Aren't you going to wait til he opens the door?" Steve asked, looking slightly confused.

"When he answers the door, which I doubt he will the first time, tell him to get my bag from my room and throw in the back of the Hummer." I said as I walked over to Josh's.

I walked into the house and banged on his bedroom door.

"Josh. The guys are here. Ellie. Make sure he gets up." I said as I walked back outside.

I crossed the road where the guys were and banged on my front door again.

"PATRICK! PIERS! LUCAS! LET ME IN! I HAVE TO GO!" I screamed loudly.

"Here Buttface! Take your stupid stuff!" Lucas shouted as he threw my bag out the window.

He wasn't really paying attention so it wasn't me that caught it but Steve. He handed it to me and I thanked him as I threw it into the back of the Hummer. I was about ready to run across the street again to Josh's when he ran out the door quickly.

"I'm here. I'm here. I'm up." he said, panting slightly.

"Well you're certaily up quick. What did Ellie do?" I asked.

"Said no sex for a month if I didn't get my ass out of bed."

Everyone looked at him and then burst out laughing.

"Get into the Hummer." I laughed as I got into the drivers seat.


	12. The Waffle House

Sorry it's been a while since I put this out. I've been at a standstill with it for a while. Well I present you with My Live as a Ghost Hunter 11 Oh and sorry if I'm geographically off. I'm not very good with maps.

* * *

"Let's play a car game!" Josh exclaimed as we drove the long way to Indiana.We were currently driving through Pennsylvania and were about to stop in Allentown to get some lunch. 

"No thank you." I murmured as my cell phone rang.

"Hello?" Josh said as he answered it. "Yeah hang on." he said as he handed it to me.

"Hello?" I said as I balanced the phone between my ear and shoulder.

_"Hey. It's Grant. We're going to stop in Allentown for lunch and then drive a few more hours and then stop for the night around Hamburg. Sound good?" _

"Yeah that sounds fine. How far are we from Allentown?"

_"Only about 20 minutes."_

"Okay. Sounds great."

_"Okay good. Oh and remind me when we get back to get the walkie talkie system installed in your truck. See you in 20 minutes." _

"Okay bye." I said as I closed my phone and tossed it to Josh.

"When are we stopping?" he asked as he just barely caught it.

"About 20 more minutes." I replied.

"Man! 20 minutes! I'm hungry!" he whined. I swear to god, if I wasn't his sister, I would have thought he was a five year old trapped in an adults body.

"It's only 20 minutes." I said.

He slumped in his seat and pouted. I turned on the music and the Automatic's "Monster" blared out. 20 minutes and 7 songs later, we were pulling off the exit to Allentown.

"Where are we eating at?" Josh asked as he turned the music off.

"I don't know. Call somebody and ask." I replied.

He picked up the phone and dialed in the number and apparently it was decided that we were eating at Denny's. After an uneventful lunch, we were found on the road again.

* * *

Four agonizing hours later, that included cars games and listening to the entire Ozzy Osbourne CD "Black Rain" twice, we arrived outside a small hotel right on the edge of Hamburg. 

"Okay so we called ahead and reserved four rooms. There are eight of us so everyone pays for half a room." Jason said as he grabbed the hat off of Steve's head and held it out to collect money.

We each put in $20, me forking over $40 for Josh, and got our stuff out of the different trucks. It ended up me sharing a room, Brian and Tango, Steve and Josh, and of course Grant and Jay.

"Are we going for something to eat?" Josh asked hopefully as he walked into mine and Donna's room.

"Jay and Grant are ordering in but we could go out." she suggested.

"Great! I'll go get Steve, Tango, and Brian and we can all pile in the Hummer!" he shouted as he ran out, grabbing the keys as he went.

"Oh no you don't! I'm driving!" I yelled as I chased him out of the room, Donna laughing as she followed.

I chased him into his and Steve's room where apparently Steve, Tango, and Brian were already waiting.

"Give me the keys, Josh. I'm driving." I said, holding my hand out.

"No way. The Hummer is mine. The Cougar is yours. If you wanted to drive, you should have brought the Cougar."

"No they're both mine. Now hand over the keys." I replied, starting to get angry.

"Look, I'll let you sit up front even."

"No Donna gets to sit up front and you get to sit in the back with all the boys."

"Then who's driving?"

"I am! Now give me the keys."

"I'll let you drive if you can reach them." he smirked as he held the keys above his head.

I growled and was preparing to lunge at him when Steve decided to step in.

"Here. I'm driving." he said as he took the keys out of Josh's hand.

I glared at Josh as we all walked out of the room and into the parking lot.

"Steve drives, Donna sits up front and you can fight about who sits in the back hatch." I said as I climbed in.

There was no way in hell I was getting in the middle. It turned out that Brian sat in the back hatch with Tango wisely separating me from my brother. We pulled out of the parking lot and down the road into a Waffle House of all places. We got out and walked in. Josh apparently decided that he wanted to sit in the non-smoking section of the restaurant because that's where we ended up taking a booth at.

"Why are we here?" I asked, looking at the menu in disgust.

"Seriously. Who picked Waffle House?" Steve asked.

"You did. You were driving." I said, staring at him.

"Oh yeah." he grinned sheepishly.

We looked at the menu for a few minutes until the waitress came up. And by waitress, I mean yeti. She was at least 300 pounds, with a big nasty looking mole, a thick ass moustache and a cigarette hanging out of her mouth.

"What can I get you kids?" she asked, the cigarette wobbling dangerously in her mouth.

"Isn't this the non-smoking section?" Josh asked, acknowledging the cancer stick in her mouth.

"Does this offend you?" she asked, pulling it out of her mouth and holding it up to Josh's face.

"Yes. As a matter of fact, it does." he said smugly, pushing her hand gently away from his face.

"Cram it, Josh." I whispered harshly.

She put it out in an ashtray behind the counter and turned back to us. We all ordered quickly and she went to go put our orders in.

"Great. Now she's going to spit in our food." I groaned miserably.

"Well hopefully she'll spit only in Josh's food." Brian said.

"Oh thanks Brian." Josh said sarcastically.

"What? She's obviously going to spit in someones food. I can hope that it's yours." Brian replied.

"So are you guys originally from Chicago?" Donna asked, trying to steer the conversation away from saliva.

"Yeah. We lived in a little suburb about ten minutes from downtown." I said.

"Yeah. We moved in with our aunt when our parents died. I was 17 and she was 13." Josh added, jumping in on the conversation.

The table fell into an awkward silence at the mention of death.

"I'm sorry." Donna mumbled.

"Don't be. We were never close with our parents. They were out a lot and it was mostly just me and Doofus." I replied, trying to lighten the mood.

"Hey that's not very nice." Josh said, shoving me lightly.

"Well it's true." I smiled.

No matter how I acted towards my brother, I loved him more than anything. He was all I had. Until now. Now, we had a huge family.

The waitress came back and sat our food down in front of us. Josh looked at his burger, shrugged his shoulders, and took a huge bite. We all looked on expectantly and weren't surprised when his face turned a nasty shade of green. He pulled the burger apart and there sat half of a cigarette butt. The other half of which was currently residing in my brothers mouth. He jumped up and ran into the bathroom.

Steve threw $30 down on the table and ran out there as soon as possible, not even bothering to try our food.

"Our bill was like $40." I said.

"Well I think she'll just have to deal." Steve replied, looking slightly green himself.

10 minutes later, Josh came out of the bathroom and sat down on the curb. I walked up and put my arm around his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Ugh. I'm not hungry anymore." he groaned.

"Why don't we just go back and eat Jay and Grant's leftovers. I really don't trust restaurants now." Donna said.

We all nodded as I heaved Josh to his feet with the help of Tango. We all got to the Hummer and Josh got in first, me taking the middle this time and Tango climbing in behind me. We started driving and it was completely silent.

"You have to admit, that was kind of funny." Tango said to break the silence.

I snorted in laughter and buried my face in his shoulder.

"I was freaking hilarious." I replied, shaking with laughter.

Everyone else had apparently been struggling to hold in their laughter because they all burst into laughter, including Josh. The car ride was spent in uninterrupted laughter.

"I'll go and get some of their pizza." Donna said as we got back to the hotel.

We went in our separate directions, Donna going to Jay and Grant's room and the rest of us going into our room.

"They better have some left." Brian said as he shut the door to our room.

* * *

Sorry there isnt any Ghost Hunting in this one. That's saved for the next one. 


	13. Initiation

Wow. I haven't written this one in forever. If you guys are still reading this, thank you for staying with me for so long. I had my computer in the shop and just now got it back so I can start writing again! Yay! Alright and in this one, the POV will be in TAPS perspective for the investigation so no Devin. I know she's the main character but yeah. Just read on. 

* * *

"We're here Josh. Wake up!" I yelled, taking one hand off the wheel for a second to punch my brother.

"God Dev! You don't need to hit me. I heard you!" he shouted angrily.

"Oops. My bad." I said sarcastically.

"Where are we going first? The hotel to check in or the house to investigate." he asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"The hotel obviously. You think anyone is going to be up to checking in at three in the morning?" I asked. We pulled into the hotel parking lot about ten minutes later.

"Alright guys. As usual, the producers are paying for this hotel so we'll go check in and get the room keys. You guys go ahead and start unpacking your stuff." Jay said as he and one of the producers went to check in.

I went to go grab one of my bags when my phone started to vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw that I had a text from Patrick.  
_  
where do we keep the spare grocery money? we're all out of food. _

"Holy crap." I mumbled as I texted him back.  
_  
How are we out already! I just went to the grocery store last week! _

I flipped my phone shut and went back to grabbing my stuff out of the Hummer. Jay came back with the room keys and we all took the roomies we had in Pennsylvania and went into our rooms.

"Hey Devin, where do you keep the spare grocery money?" Josh asked, coming into mine and Donna's room.

"Did Patrick text you?" I asked.

"Yeah. They're out of food and hungry." he replied.

"Who is 'they'?" I asked, taking my clothes out of my suitcase and putting them in the dresser at the front of the room.

"Him, Piers, and Lucas." he said.

"Tell Lucas and Piers that if they want food they can go home and eat their own food. Tell Patrick that the grocery money is in the cookie jar on top of the fridge." I said, not looking up from my clothes.

Josh left the room and I continued to unpack.

"Wow. You have a lot of people at your house." Donna said.

"Unwillingly. Somehow, one of them moved in with me and the others never leave. It's like they came over one day and never left." I replied.

"Hey guys. We're heading over to the house." Tango said, peeking his head in our room.

"Alrighty. Be out in a sec. Just let me hit the bathroom." I said as Donna made her way outside and I made my way to the bathroom.

I headed outside five minutes later to see everyone piling into one of two vans. I got in the van with Tango, Brian, and Steve while Josh went with Grant, Jason, and Donna.

"Why can't I just drive the Hummer over there? I never understand that." I said, putting on my seat belt.

"They don't want any random cars on the show. Just the TAPS vans." Steve explained for like the millionth time.

"Whatever." I said as I looked around the surrounding area.

"I used to have family that lived here. I haven't been back in forever." I murmured to myself.

"Wait. You've been here?" Brian asked, turning around in the front seat to face me.

"Yeah. My mom was from here. She's actually buried up in the cemetery on the outskirts of town. Her family is still around here. Granted I haven't seen them since the funeral but yeah, they're still here." I explained.

The van got silent and I could tell they didn't know what to say.

"Why does everyone go quiet at the mention of death?" I asked suddenly.

"Because it might be a touchy subject for some." Steve said.

"Well it's not for me so if I ever mention the death of my mother or father, you don't have to go into 'silent mode' every time." I replied.

"Alrighty then. How big is this place?" Brian asked.

"From what I remember, it's actually kind of big." I said, looking out the window and taking in the scenery.

We suddenly pulled into a driveway and I looked up to see one of the huge houses on Jefferson St. in the middle of the town.

"Alright. Let's get the camera crews set up and you guys can start unpacking some stuff from the vans." Jason said as he, Steve, and Grant made their way up to the house.

We all started grabbing bags and piling them on the ground behind the vans. I climbed into the back of the tech van to see if there was anything else to get out when I was suddenly ambushed by my brother, Brian, and Tango.

"What are you doing!" I screamed, trying to fend them off.

"You were never officially initiated." Brian said.

"What!" I asked, terribly confused.

"I had to wear that stupid tiara and look like an idiot and I was picked on forever so now it's your turn for something 10 times worse." Tango said, grinning slightly psychotically.

"What are you going to do?" I asked, slightly fearful.

"You'll see." Josh smirked.

* * *

20 Minutes Later/TAPS Point of View

"Alright we're ready to set up. Where's Devin?" Jason asked, suddenly realizing she wasn't there.

"She wasn't feeling good?" Josh said, almost as if he were asking if that was a good enough excuse.

"Her initiation?" Jason asked boredly.

All three boys smirked and nodded.

"Why did you wait so long? And how come I wasn't informed? You know I love this kind of thing." Steve said, slightly disappointed.

"We wanted it to be a complete surprise." Brian said.

"Well where is she? What did you do to her?" Grant asked.

"You'll find out. Unfortunately, she won't be joining us on this investigation" Tango said.

Jason thought about this for a minute, decided there was no stopping the initiation, that it would happen eventually and let it go.

"Alright, get everything set up." he said, turning around and walking back into the house.

Everything was eventually set up, taking forever for the fact that Josh kept the wrong cameras in the wrong places. They sent him for a burger run for punishment, realizing this was a mistake when he came back with 200 hamburgers from McDonald's and no drinks. They next sent Steve to get the right amount of burgers from Hardees, along with drinks. The four less mature boys, and the family's 17 year old son Kevin, ended up having a hamburger fight with the McDonald's 200. It was a glorious fight, Steve and Josh winning the title of most hamburgers thrown in less than a minute, tying only because Steve was pelted with a burger to the face from Kevin at the last second.

"Alrighty, now that we're done eating and throwing food, how about we get this investigation underway?" Jason asked, slightly annoyed but highly amused at the same time.

Everyone grabbed their respective equipment, got with their respective partners, not even sparing a second thought to the girl who was apparently too tied up at the moment to join in the investigation. 

* * *

  
"Jesus Christ!" Steve screamed, jumping away from the window.

"What? What is it?" Josh asked, running over to the window.

"A huge freaking spider." Steve said, shuddering.

"Dude. You got me all excited for nothing." Josh mumbled, walking back over to the bed and lying down.

"Sorry. It was just right my face and scared the hell out of me." he said, sitting in the arm chair in the corner of the room.

They sat for a few minutes in complete silence, trying to take in everything about the room. The thing people didn't see on the TV show was the boredom that the boys went through for several hours of just sitting on the bed or in a chair and waiting for something to happen. It was like waiting for Christmas to come in July or waiting for bread to mold.

"Do you want to do some EVPs?" Steve whispered.

"We just did EVPs like ten minutes ago." Josh replied.

"Josh, that was like an hour ago." Steve replied.

"Still, we've already got them for this room. Let's go on to another one." Josh said, standing up and stretching.

They both walked towards the door and as soon as Josh put his hand on the door knob, Jason's voice rang across the walkie talkies.

"Hey guys. It's getting kinda late. I think it's time to pack up."

"So much for EVPs." Steve said as they walked down the hall to the stairwell. 

* * *

It had been a long night, so Steve was surprised when Josh went into Dave and Brian's room to hang out for a little while. He looked at the clock on the bedside table and saw that it read 3:30 A.M. He kicked off his shoes and was about to crawl into bed without changing into his pajamas or even bothering to take off his hat when he heard a knocking sound. Standing up again, he listened closely for any sound to give away the position of where the knocking sound was coming from. He heard the noise again, this time sounding really close. It sounded like it was coming from the closet. Steve slowly walked towards the closet, the ghost hunter in him trying to figure out if it was paranormal or not. Reaching the door, the knocking got louder, startling him and making him jump. Tentatively he reached out for the door handle, turning it slowly and jerking it open quickly. The knocking noise was suddenly very apparent when Devin fell out and on to the floor, completely tied up and squirming around.

"Holy crap." Steve said as he bent down to untie her.

"What the hell!" she screamed as he removed the tape from her mouth.

"Sh! Quiet down! People are trying to sleep!" Steve whispered as he untied her hands and her feet.

"I've been in there for a VERY LONG time. I think I deserve to shout a little!" Devin said, her voice raising several octaves.

"It's 3:30 in the morning. You can't just go around shouting." Steve replied, standing up and pulling Devin to her feet.

"They left me tied up in a closet for like 7 hours! What do expect me to do!" she cried loudly.

"Pee." he replied.

"What?" Devin asked, thoroughly confused.

"Pee. If I would have been locked in the closet for seven hours, I'd have to pee." Steve replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"You know, now that you mention it, I do kinda have to pee." Devin said as she walked to the bathroom.


	14. The Date

Sorry the wait was so long. And sorry there's not much ghost hunting in it. Or Ghost Hunters for that matter. I'll make it up to you next time.

* * *

"Hey! Do you have anything planned on the third?" I heard Matt call from the back.

I was currently alphabetizing cds, monotonously I might add, on a chilly Friday afternoon. It had been a month since the Indiana case and there hadn't been one since then. There was some pretty interesting evidence there, nothing substantial though. The only good thing that really came out of the case was that I got my initiation over, and now Steve and I were planning Josh's, as Steve had been left out of the last one.

"No. I don't think so. Why?" I called back.

"We have a signing and the owner wants all of us to be there."

"There's only like 4 of us. I hope this isn't a majour band."

"It's a band called the Maine. They're actually pretty good. This is their debut album. You should look them up." Kristin said, coming out of the back.

"I'll have to do that when I get home." I replied, going back to myalphabetizing.

"Yo yo yo! What's up my bitches?"

Kristin and I turned and saw Piers, Patrick, Lucas, and my brother walk into the store.

"Yes?" I asked, annoyed.

"Steve and Brian are in town and wanted us to come out to lunch with them. You in?" Josh asked.

"Heck yes! I'm starved!" Kristin shouted happily, jumping off the counter.

"Sure. Why not." I said unenthusiastically.

"I called Adam and he's on his way. He didn't seem interested until he heard you were coming." Patrick said, bumping hips with me and winking.

"What are you implying?" I asked as I grabbed my coat and scribbled a note for Matt.

"He likes you!" he half whispered.

Everyone else had walked on ahead of us so it was just us two.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"You know. And you like him too." Patrick said, smirking.

"Maybe a little." I admitted.

"Haha! I knew it! Piers! You owe me 20 dollars!" he shouted.

"Wow. Glad to see my life is a good way for you to make money." I said, stomping off to walk with the others.

We arrived at the restuarant and walked in to see Steve and Brian already there. I stalked over to the table and sat down beside Steve in a huff.

"Wow. What's got your panties in a bunch?" Brian asked.

"Shut up." I said, crossing my arms.

Josh sat beside him, with Piers beside him and Kirstin beside him. Patrick sat down on our side, leaving a seat open between the two of us. Did he have to make it that obvious?

We all ordered drinks while waiting for Adam to come, and as soon as the drinks arrived, he came in.

"Sorry I'm late. I was having some 'Grandma' issues." he said, putting his jacket on the back of his chair and sitting down.

"It's cool man. We were waiting for you to order our food. It seems you arrived just in time." Patrick replied.

We all ordered our food and ate, with random conversations flying back and forth. By the time we were done, everyone was in a better mood, including me.

"Oh so Donna wanted us to mention this case we were thinking about doing. It's in like a week and somewhere in New Jersey." Steve said as we all put on our coats.

"Sounds good. What about you, Josh?" I asked, looking over at my brother.

"Yeah. That's cool." he replied.

We all walked out of the restaurant together, splitting off in our different directions once we got outside. Josh, Patrick, Piers, and Kristin all went off in the direction of the music store, Steve and Brian headed back to TAPS headquarters, and that left Adam and I to make our way to our homes. Together. Alone.

"So... how is Ghost Hunters coming?" Adam asked.

"Pretty good. This'll be my first case in almost a month." I replied.

"Cool. I heard last time couldn't really be considered a case for you though." he said.

"Oh my god. Who told you?" I asked, horrified.

"Ha ha. Your brother. It's okay though. It wasn't your fault. You were kidnapped." he laughed.

"Well between you and me, my brother is going to be getting his soon." I smirked.

"Really now? What are you going to do?" he asked.

"I'm not sure yet, actually. I'm planning it with Steve as he didn't get to help prank me but we haven't talked much about it." I said.

"Well maybe I could help." he replied.

"Any help I could get would be fantastic." I said.

"Alright. How about we talk about it over dinner. Friday, say about 8:00?" he asked.

"Are you asking me on a date, Mr. Hedlund?" I asked, turning to face him.

"Only if you want it to be, Miss Hall." he replied.

By now we had reached my house and were almost up the driveway.

"Yeah. I'd like that." I smiled.

"Alright then. Dinner at 8:00." he smiled as well and began walking back to his house.

I walked into my own, smiling and completely forgetting the fact that Patrick had forgotten to lock the door and that I had left my car down at the music store.


	15. San Diego

"So, how did your date go?"

I looked away from the road to stare at Steve. We were currently on our way to California for a case. Everyone else flew, but as Steve and I are both afraid of flying, we opted to drive in my brothers Hummer.

"How'd you know about that?" I asked, looking back to the road.

"Josh was talking about it the other day when we went out to lunch." he replied.

"So who all knows now?"

"He told Brian, Tango, and I, so basically everyone. Now seriously, how did it go?" Steve asked.

"It was really, really nice. I thoroughly enjoyed myself." I smiled, think back to the date.

He had taken me to a little diner right in the heart of this little city, and after we got done there, he took me to the arcade, where we were the oldest people by at least eight years.

"That's good. He seems like a pretty cool guy."

"Well I don't have much to choose from so I guess he has to be." I joked.

"You need to get out more."

"You're telling me. My best friend is my brother. How sad is that?"

"It's not so bad. Plus, you've got the guys and Ellie, and you have us."

"To true. It's better than Chicago. I had my brother and the cashier from Starbucks."

"Okay. Now that's sad."

"Shut up!" I said, laughing.

We continued our little banter back and forth until we reached the hotel we were staying at for the night. Steve went to go check in while I went to the back to grab our overnight bags. Steve came back with the room key and we made our way to our room. Since the producers were cheap and said they would pay for plane tickets but not hotel rooms so Steve and I had to pay for our own on the way to California. Which meant being cheap and sharing one. Not that I minded. We were pretty good friends so it wouldn't be too awkward. We arrived to our room and walked in, throwing our bags on separate beds. I didn't even bother to change before I lay down on my bed, instantly falling asleep.

* * *

"Are we there yet?" I whined.

"We still have three hours before we get to Topeka, where we're staying tonight. God you are whiney." Steve replied.

"Shut up! God, we seriously need some music." I said, propping my feet up on the dash and fiddling with the dials on the radio.

"Oh wait. He has satellite." I mumbled to myself as I switched it over.

It was on classic rock and Foreigners "Hot Blooded" came on.

"Hot blooded, check and see!" I sang.

"I gotta fever of a 103!" Steve joined in.

"Come on baby do you do more than dance! Cause I'm Hot Blooded, Hot Blooded!"

* * *

"So when are you guys leaving?" I asked into the phone.

We'll be heading out tomorrow morning and arriving sometime the next morning. When you guys think you'll be there? Josh asked.

"We're leaving from Denver right now, and we'll be stopping in some obscure town in southern California tonight, then try to make it to San Diego sometime tomorrow morning. So we should be there a day ahead of you guys." I replied.

_Okay. Cool. So how is driving? Does it suck?_

"Not really. Steve is pretty cool and I hate flying. Plus, I'm getting a road trip out of this. It's actually pretty cool."

_Sweet. I kinda wish I would have gone with you. Adam is getting annoying._

"What do you mean? How is he getting annoying?"

_Just talking about you constantly. You're not doing that to Steve, are you?_

"God no. Steve doesn't care about my love life."

_Well I don't either so tell Adam to shut up._

"Why don't you?"

_Cause you're his girlfriend._

"I'm not his girlfriend! Shut up!"

_Ha ha. I gotta go! Love ya, sis._

"Alright. Love ya, bye."

I shut my phone and grabbed my overnight bag from the bed. I made my way to the Hummer and hopped into the drivers seat while Steve checked out of the hotel. He walked out five minutes later and I started the Hummer up.

"Ready?" I asked as he climbed in.

"As ready as I'll ever be." he sighed dramatically.

I laughed as I put it in reverse, pulling out of the spot.

* * *

"Oh my god! We're finally here!" I cried, jumping out of the Hummer.

"You act like riding with me has been torture." Steve said as he got out of the car.

"No, it's not that. It's just that I hate being in a car for that long. But it gets us an extra day in San Diego, I don't care." I said.

"Alright. So I'm gonna go check into the hotel, and then we can go do something since we have an extra day. Sound good?" he asked.

"Yeah. Sounds awesome." I began to grab my bags out of the back and in no time Steve was back with two room keys.

We were finally in San Diego so the producers were paying for our rooms now, which meant we got separate rooms. We each took our stuff up to our rooms and met down by the Hummer ten minutes later.

"So what do you want to do?" Steve asked as he climbed in the drivers seat.

"I want to go to the zoo!" I said excitedly.

"The zoo it is." he laughed.

* * *

"Dude. Josh is going to be so pissed he missed this." I laughed as we walked out of the zoo and into the parking lot.

"Why?" Steve asked.

"His favourite animal is the panda. Hence the panda stuffed animal." I replied, holding up the stuffed toy.

"Oh. I thought that was for you since you're going to be scared since we're not sharing a room anymore." Steve teased.

"Psh. Whatever. I'm occupying that extra bed in your room until my roommate gets here." I said.

He laughed and we got into the Hummer.

"Josh is going to be such a baby. I'm probably going to have to bring him back here on a day we're not doing anything. Not that I mind really." I said.

"Are you sure you're the older sibling?" Steve asked.

"Sometimes I'm not sure." I replied.

* * *

"Baby sister!"

I awoke to a 24-year-old jumping on my bed. At 9:30 in the morning. I was pissed.

"Josh. I swear to god if you don't get off my bed right now, you will not get the present I bought you."

I felt a pressure being lifted from the bed and heard laughter in the background. I opened one eye to see my brother, Tango, Dustin, and Brian standing at the foot of my bed, laughing. I looked over to the other bed and saw Steve still out of it.

"Why didn't you wake Steve?" I asked.

"They did." Steve grumbled, pulling the covers farther over his head.

"Where's my present?!" Josh whined like a 5-year-old.

I got up from my bed wordlessly and walked over to my suitcase. I pulled the stuffed panda from my bag and handed it to Josh. He took it in his hands with a look of pure adoration on his face and it probably would have been really cute had it not been 9:30 in the morning.

"This is so cute, Dev! Where'd you get it?" he asked excitedly.

"The Zoo. Don't worry, I'll take you on one of our off days." I smiled, seeing my 24-year-old brothers face light up at the promise of a trip to the zoo.

"Sweet! This is going to be the best trip ever! Are the panda's awesome? I bet they are!" he squealed excitedly.

Brian, Tango, Dustin, and even Steve just stared at him like he was insane.

"Dude. It's just the zoo." Dustin said.

"Hey, the zoo is freaking awesome. It was awesome right?" Josh asked, looking at me with a worried expression.

"Yeah. It was actually pretty cool. And I don't even like animals very much." Steve yawned, sitting up.

"I can't wait!" Josh yelled.

* * *

By the end of the week, it had seemed like no time at all had passed. I was sort of depressed to be going back, away from the nice sunny weather of California to the cold wet weather of Rhode Island. The case we had worked on was probably the lamest case ever. Jay and Grant were kind of pissed about it, because we had wasted all this time out here for nothing. We didn't even get an EVP. But I had fun at the zoo for the second time with Josh and Tango, as he had wanted to go see the pandas too. The others had opted to stay at the hotel. But I was kind of excited to get back as well, so I could see Adam. Our date had gone so well, and I was excited for the next one, which he promised me as soon as I got back. I smiled as I packed up mine and my brothers room. Donna hadn't come with us so it was me and Josh sharing a room. We were leaving in about ten minutes and Josh had decided to ride back with us in the Hummer.

"Devin! Time to go!" Josh called to me.

"Alright! Coming!" I replied, heading off to the Hummer.

* * *

I'm so sorry this one took so long to get out! All you readers that are still with me, thank you so much! I love you guys! The nest one after this is where the drama starts to come into play in this story.


	16. Breathe In, Breathe Out

"Dude. I am so bored!" Josh sighed dramatically.

We were all, that is, Josh, Piers, Patrick, Lucas and I, occupying my couch.

"Where is 'lover boy'?" Patrick asked me.

"He's not lover boy. And he's at work." I replied.

"You guys have been on like four dates. I'd say you're dating." Piers said.

"Shut up. Not your call." I said.

We stayed in silence, watching Transformers on the TV. It was one of those weird times when we all agreed on something, which we shouldn't have to anyway, since it was my house. Well Patrick's too, as he was now splitting rent.

"How many times have we actually watched this movie?" I asked.

"At least 12 hundred times." Lucas said, not taking his eyes off the screen.

As many times as we've watched it, the movie still enthralled us to no end. And that's how we stayed the rest of the day, sitting on my couch, having a movie marathon, until about ten, when Josh decided he needed to be home. I finally decided to go to bed at around 10:30.

"Goodnight, fellows. Have fun." I said as I sauntered down the hallway and into my bedroom.

* * *

_"Breathe in, breathe out. Live it up you'll never live this dow-"_

"Hello?" I said groggily into the phone.

I looked over at my clock and saw that it read 12:30 pm. So naturally I was not very happy.

_"Devin. this is Steve. You have to get to the hospital right now."_ Steve said frantically.

"Why? What's going on?" I asked, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.

_"It's Josh. He was in a car wreck."_

"Oh my god! Is he okay?!" I asked frantically.

_"He was already in the ambulance by the time I got there. I recognized your car and at first I thought it was you but they said it was a young man."_

"Are you sure it was him?!" I asked.

_"Yeah. They gave me his wallet."_

"I'll be there in ten minutes."

I hung up the phone and began to put on clothes in a hurry. I grabbed my cell phone and headed out of my room. I walked into the living room to see Lucas, Piers, and Patrick still on my couch.

"Where are you going?" Patrick asked.

"The hospital. Josh has been in an accident. One of you go and tell Ellie." I rushed, running out the door and hopping into the car.

I sped off in the direction I knew the nearest hospital was and was there in ten minutes. I jumped out of the car and rushed inside to the front desk.

"Hey. I'm here for my brother, Josh Hall?" I said.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but we have no info at this time but if you'll have a seat over there, we'll let you know as soon as we do." the lady said.

I walked over to the waiting room and sat down in the uncomfortable chair. I knew he was probably fine and would only have like a dumb injury like a broken leg or something. Or at least that's what I kept telling myself.

"Devin?"

I looked up to see Tango looking at me.

"Hey. What are you doing here?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

"Steve called all of us. I guess I'm the one that lives closest to the hospital. Steve didn't tell us anything. How is he doing?"

"I don't know. Steve said he was already in the ambulance when he got to the scene. He's probably fine though." I said, reassuring myself.

Dave came and sat beside me and we sat in a silence, waiting for any kind of news on Josh.

"Hey Devin."

I looked up after about fifteen minutes to see all of the TAPS people there, plus Piers, Lucas, Patrick, Adam, and Ellie. Ellie looked like she was about ready to cry but she held it in well. I hadn't even realized they had come in. I looked to the source of who called my name and saw Steve in his police uniform.

"Is he okay?" I asked.

"He's in surgery right now. We won't know anything for at least another hour." Steve replied softly.

"What happened?" Grant asked as he sat down beside me.

"He was driving on one of the old roads and a kid lost control of his truck in the field beside him. It drove onto the road and pinned Josh to a tree." Steve replied.

"That had to have been a big ass truck." Piers said.

"He was in my car." I said.

"Why?" Ellie asked.

"Because I thought I heard a weird noise the last time I was driving it and I asked him to drive it for a little while to see if he heard it too." I replied.

We sat in silence for another until a somber looking doctor walked out into the waiting room.

"Hall?" he asked.

I stood up and he walked over to our group.

"Are you the immediate family of Josh Hall?" he asked.

"Yes." I replied.

"You might want to sit down, Miss." he said.

I plopped down into my seat and the doctor pulled up a chair in front of me.

"Mr. Hall received several severe injuries during the accident. There was trauma to the head and fractures to the skull, which in turn caused a severe swelling of the brain. We preformed and operation to relieve the pressure in the skull cavity, but he fell into a coma shortly after coming out of surgery. At this point, it's not looking good for him. There's about a 50% chance he'll make it through the night, and if he does, there's about a 25% chance of him waking up at all. If he does wake up, he will most likely have severe brain damage and possible mental retardation. I'm sorry."

And with that, he stood up and walked away.I watched him walk away before I felt the blackness creep in and take over my senses.

* * *

I have been trying to log into FanFiction for like a week to post this but it was saying there was a technical glitch and I couldn't. Anyway, not sure what's going to happen from here. I don't know if I sould let him die, come back or what. Hm.... Toughy.


	17. Give It All

Devin sighed as she once again looked into the face of her unconscious brother. It had been exactly two months to the day since his accident, and she had hardly moved from her vigil next to his bedside. She knew her friends were worried about her, but how could she leave him? What if he woke up and she wasn't here?

No, it was better if she just stayed here. No risk of him waking up and her not being here. Or the alternative in this situation....

Devin pushed the thought from her mind as quickly as it had entered. He _was_ going to wake up. There was no doubt in her mind. He _had_ too. She couldn't bear to think of what she would do if he didn't.

And so she stayed in the chair beside his bed, her eyes glued to his face. His pale, skinny, somewhat bruised face. No matter what she did, she couldn't seem to tear her eyes from his face. She couldn't help but think how this was her fault. She had asked him to drive the car. Had he been in his Hummer, he would have come out with a few scratches at most.

The tears found their way down her face once again, following the permanent path they seemed to have etched in her cheeks. Lost in her thoughts, she hadn't even realized the door to the room had opened and someone had silently slipped into the room.

--------------------------------------

Grant Wilson had seen many things in his life. Many things that most people could only dream of seeing. But never had he seen a more heartbreaking sight then the one currently in front of him.

Devin Hall sat, eyes transfixed on her brother. Her eyes seemed unfocused, like she was there physically, but not mentally. He was pretty sure that in the two months Josh had been in the hospital, Devin had only left a very small amount of times. She had hardly been eating, that was apparent, as her clothes hung limply off her body. Her hair wasn't necessarily dirty, but it obviously hadn't been washed in at least two days, It hung limply around her face, which was gaunt and very pale. Black circles ran around her eyes, as the poor girl probably hadn't had a proper nights sleep since the accident. Truth be told, she looked slightly worse than the boy in the bed.

TAPS had temporarily shut down, at least until they figured out where they stood with Josh. Everybody had been in and out of the rather large room, to check on Josh, but also to check on Devin as everyone was extremely concerned for the girl. She obviously hadn't been to work, but the music shop understood. Most of them were close to her anyway, so they were some of the people coming to check on her.

"Devin?" Grant called out quietly, so as not to startle her.

She looked up and back at him, her eyes still holding the glazed over look.

"How is he doing, sweetie?" he asked as he came up and sat in the chair next to her.

The hidden meaning behind the question was really how was _she_ doing, and he knew that she understood this.

"Basically the same. No changes." Her voice was hoarse, as she really didn't talk that much anymore.

"Maybe you should go home for a while. Get some fresh air and a shower." They had the same conversation every time he was here, so he already knew her answer.

"You're right. My hair is getting kind of gross."

He looked up at her in shock, completely taken aback by her answer. It was usually "I can't. What if he wakes up?" so when she agreed with him, it was definitely not what he expected. He was quiet for a second before he gained the sense to respond.

"Alright. Do you want me to stay here with him until you get back?" he asked.

"Nah. I think he'll be okay for a few hours." Devin said as she stood from the chair and stretched, her body stiff from being in the same position for so long.

Grant watched her walk from the room, shutting the door behind her, in a stunned silence.

It seemed as if Devin Hall had finally given up.

* * *

Egh. I know it has been forever and I totally apologize. My computer broke and then I got grounded. I'm sneaking my computer right now so That's why it's not longer. Anyway, here you go.


	18. A Year In The Making

_Okay, So I know I suck because it's been so long. But I've got the rest of this story planned out, so maybe it won't take so long next time. For those of you still out there, you guys are fantastic and amazing. I know I wouldn't have lasted this long. So kudos to you. Oh, so in my plans for this story, it is becoming a crossover. But only because I don't really watch GH anymore, and I do watch the other show, so it's making it easier to finish this story. Also, I kinda wrote Brian out, because he left the show and I only really liked him to make fun of him anyway. So sorry Brian lovers. Anyway, let's go._

* * *

Devin looked in the mirror as she got ready for work. It had now been three and a half months since Josh had been in the accident and she had been going to work for the past month and a half. After the two month mark, it seemed like he wouldn't be waking up and she had realized that she needed to move on with her life. She was giving him two more weeks before she would take him off life support. Just to give herself two more weeks to hope.

She had been back to work for the past six weeks, but she had not been back to TAPS. She had hardly even talked to them, really. They would occasionally come by the house to see her, or the music store since it was so close to head quarters, but it seemed as if they had gotten tired of her moping around. She hadn't really wanted to go back anyway. She didn't have the passion for it anymore.

She grabbed a hoodie, Josh's hoodie, to be exact, and walked out into the main part of the house. She went into the kitchen and grabbed some pop-tarts out of the cabinet and made her way into the living room, said a quick goodbye to Patrick, and made her way to the car.

After stopping at the gas station to fill the car up, she parked in the back lot of the music store and headed in. She made her way to the back room, where'd she been doing paper work and cataloging since she'd been back. She just hadn't had the energy to work in the front and deal with customers. She was actually kind of surprised she hadn't been fired yet. But everyone felt sorry for her, or so she was guessing. So she sat down at her desk, grabbed her pen, and began to work.

* * *

Dave Tango shifted his position in the uncomfortable hospital chair. He looked down at the boy who he was currently watching over. Since Devin had stopped coming in, each of them had been taking turns coming in and watching over him, just in case he managed to wake up. They wanted to make sure he was never alone, mostly for Devin. They'd been checking in on her occasionally, because she was still family, no matter how much she didn't want to see them. Their visits had become less and less, until it became once every two weeks or so. Jason had been the last one to see her, and according to what he'd told them, she looked completely normal again, except for the little bit of weight she'd lost and the dark circles underneath her eyes. But the color had returned to her face and her hair was shiny and clean looking. But according to the people at the record store, she worked in the back away from everyone else and from what they'd heard from Patrick, she rarely ever left her room.

"Hey Tango, ready to switch?"

Tango was brought out of his thoughts by Steve.

"Yeah. I think I'm gonna go see Devin today. She working?" he asked, standing up and stretching.

"Yeah, I think so," Steve answered as he sat down in the chair beside the bed.

"Okay cool," Tango replied, picking up his jacket and looking down at Josh one last time.

"Did you see that?" he asked Steve quickly, pointing to the boys hand.

"No, what?" Steve asked.

"His hand. Watch it," Tango replied, concentrating hard on Josh's left hand.

"Dude. You've been here too long. Trust me. We all see him twitch or move at one time or another," Steve said, patting Tango on his shoulder, but also looking at Josh's hand, just in case.

"Alright. I guess you're right. I guess I'll see you later," Tango said as he walked out of the room.

Steve sat down in the empty chair Tango had just vacated, pulling out his book, making sure to keep at least half of his attention on the younger man's hand.

* * *

Tango walked into the music store, and looked around. He spotted his cousin, Kristen, and walked over to her.

"Hey, Kris. Is Devin in?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah. In the back doing paper work," Kristin said sympathetically.

"No, right here actually,"

The two cousins turned around to see Devin standing there. Tango took in the sight of her. She looked basically normal, besides the obvious weight change and the dark purple circles under her eyes.

"Matt just got back from his lunch break, so I'm going to go on mine," she told Kristen.

The older girl just nodded.

"You wanna join me?" Devin asked Tango.

"Yeah, sure. I was just coming over to visit you, actually," Tango smiled at her.

She gave a small smile and walked to the door. Tango exchanged a glance with Kristen and walked out after her.

Once on the sidewalk, they began walking towards the small diner at the end of the street.

"So... how have you been lately? It seems like we haven't talked in forever," Tango tried breaking the silence.

"I've been better, obviously, but I've been feeling better these past few weeks then I have in a while," Devin said, pulling her jacket tighter around her.

"Yeah. Everyone has been sort of worried about you. We don't really hear from you. Even Brian is kinda worried, and you know how he is," Tango joked, with a slight serious tone to his voice.

She laughed, though he could tell it was kind of forced.

"I know. I just figured you guys had probably gotten tired of me moping around," she replied airily, though there was a touch of seriousness to it.

"We could never get tired of you. Devin, you just experienced a tragedy. We want to be there for you, not push you away. I'm sorry if anyone gave you that impression, but that was not our intention. We just want to help you,"

Suddenly, Devin threw her body at Tango, arms around his neck and sobbing into his shoulder. He was pulled down at an awkward angle, considering she was so short. He removed her arms from around his neck and replaced them around his middle, so she was now sobbing into his chest. She didn't even seem to notice. She mumbled something but it was muffled by his chest.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that," Tango said.

"I said 'I'm sorry'. I've been super difficult and it was me who doing the pushing away. I.... don't know. It's always just been me and Josh, and there's never been anyone else. I guess when it happened, I wasn't expecting anyone to be there like he was," she replied, turning her head so she was still leaning on him but he could at least hear her.

"Well, we are here for you. We will always be here for you. No matter what. Now how about we go get some food and then make a quick stop at headquarters?" Tango asked, smiling down at her.

"That sounds lovely, dearest one," she laughed, pulling away.

* * *

After getting a quick lunch, the two of them made their way outside. Joking and laughing was something Devin hadn't done in almost four months, but with Tango, she couldn't help herself. He was just so funny and his attitude was so bright and sunny, it was almost contagious. They walked the short distance to TAPS Headquarters.

Tango walked through the door first, Devin standing slightly behind him.

"Hey Tango, glad you're here. Josh Gates from that new show Destination Truth is in the back and Jay and Grant want you to help him look over some of his evidence he got on his last investigation," Donna said, not looking up from her desk and obviously not noticing Devin.

"Alright. Do you think they would mind if Devin helped me?" he asked, smiling and looking at her.

"No probably not. They could use all the help they can get," Donna replied, not looking up from her paper work.

Tango shook his head, smiling, and walked through the door to the back, Devin following behind him.

"Hey guys, I'm here. Donna said you needed some help?" Tango asked.

"Yeah, this is- Devin!" Grant exclaimed suddenly noticing her.

"Huh, that's funny. My name is Devin too," she smiled.

Grant and Jay looked shocked, Tango was trying not to laugh, and the other guy, who she presumed was Josh Gates, merely looked confused.

"Am I missing something? And just to clarify, I'm Josh. At least, I was last time I checked," he said.

"I'm Devin," she smiled, stepping forward to shake his hand.

He smiled and shook her hand.

"Josh. So am I missing something?" he asked, looking between the two groups.

"No, well, kinda. But I'm sure you don't want to hear all my drama, so it'd be easier if you just ignored it," Devin smiled.

"Alright then. So you guys want to get started?" he asked.

"Yeah, you guys go ahead. Devin, can we speak to you really quick?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, sure," she smiled, knowing what this conversation was going to be about.

Tango and Josh left the room, Tango looking back at her and giving her a quick smile. Before Jason and Grant could even say anything, she held up her hand.

"It's alright. I know what you're going to say, and I want to go first. I realized that I was pitying myself, when it wasn't about me. And I was pushing you guys away when all you wanted to do was help. So I just want to say, I'm sorry," she said.

"Hey, you've got nothing to be sorry for. People have different ways of healing, and you needed to do it by yourself. It's okay," Grant smiled.

She gave the two of them a brilliant smiled and stepped forward to hug each of them.

"Now, what's this about helping-"

Before Devin could finish her sentence, however, Donna burst through the door. Without saying a word, she launched herself at Devin and hugged her fiercely.

"I was wondering when you would notice me," she laughed, patting Donna on the back.

"You have no idea how much I've missed having you around. I didn't realize how bad it was being the only girl until you left," Donna laughed, stepping away from Devin to look at her.

"I've missed you too," Devin smiled, hugging her once again.

"Alright, not to ruin this lovely reunion or anything, but didn't you call us down here to work?" Tango asked, laughing as he looked in on the still hugging girls.

"We did. And Josh is only here on his way back to California for two days, so we should probably get to helping him," Jason said, a smile still present on his face.

Devin, Donna, and Tango followed Jason and Grant out of the back room and into the evidence room where Josh Gates was.

"Wow, this place is like super happy. I may never want to go back to California," Josh laughed, seeing the smile on all of their faces.

Devin laughed as she sat down beside him.

"You have no idea," she smiled.

* * *

_Alright, so not my best work, I'll admit. I especially hate the end/makeup scene. It was terrible. But whatevs. And yep, the crossover is with Destination Truth. Because I heart that show and Josh Gates._


	19. Remember To Feel Real

Last time on My Life As A Ghost Hunter:

_"Where is 'lover boy'?" Patrick asked me._

_"He's not lover boy. And he's at work." I replied._

_"You guys have been on like four dates. I'd say you're dating." Piers said._

_"Devin. this is Steve. You have to get to the hospital right now." Steve said frantically._

_"Why? What's going on?" I asked, sitting up and rubbing my eyes._

_"It's Josh. He was in a car wreck."_

_"Mr. Hall received several severe injuries during the accident. There was trauma to the head and fractures to the skull, which in turn caused a severe swelling of the brain. We preformed and operation to relieve the pressure in the skull cavity, but he fell into a coma shortly after coming out of surgery. At this point, it's not looking good for him. There's about a 50% chance he'll make it through the night, and if he does, there's about a 25% chance of him waking up at all. If he does wake up, he will most likely have severe brain damage and possible mental retardation. I'm sorry."_

_It had now been three and a half months since Josh had been in the accident and she had been going to work for the past month and a half. After the two month mark, it seemed like he wouldn't be waking up and she had realized that she needed to move on with her life. She was giving him two more weeks before she would take him off life support. Just to give herself two more weeks to hope._

_"I said 'I'm sorry'. I've been super difficult and it was me who doing the pushing away. I... don't know. It's always just been me and Josh, and there's never been anyone else. I guess when it happened, I wasn't expecting anyone to be there like he was," she replied, turning her head so she was still leaning on him but he could at least hear her._

_"Well, we are here for you. We will always be here for you. No matter what. Now how about we go get some food and then make a quick stop at headquarters?" Tango asked, smiling down at her._

_Grant and Jay looked shocked, Tango was trying not to laugh, and the other guy, who she presumed was Josh Gates, merely looked confused._

_

* * *

_

"I mean, I guess it could be something paranormal, but didn't you say this place was right next to a town?" Devin asked as they watched the thermal image again.

"Yeah, but it's like ten miles away and no one really has cars," Josh Gates replied.

"Don't you see the way it moved? It was definitely too fast to be human," Tango added.

"No way is that too fast to be human. I mean, it was really fast, but not to be human. That's ridiculous Tango," Devin replied.

"Well, Miss Smarty Pants! Sor-ry!" Tango laughed, holding up his hands in mock surrender.

"So are we in agreement that it's probably human?" Josh asked.

"No no, it's most likely paranormal. See the way it disappears around that corner? It kinda fades away. That is not human," Devin pointed out as they watched it a fourth time.

There was silence, so Devin looked over at the two men. They were both staring at her with an "Are you kidding me?" expression.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"You are unbelievable," Josh laughed as moved to get the next piece of evidence.

This continued for about two hours until Devin remembered that she was supposed to be on her lunch break.

"Oh my gosh! Tango how could you let me forget?" Devin exclaimed as she grabbed her cardigan off the back of her chair.

"How could you let yourself forget?" Tango laughed as she rushed around grabbing her stuff.

"It's been a busy day," she grumbled as she hugged him goodbye, said goodbye to Josh, and walked out the door.

"She's fun," Josh smiled, turning to Tango.

"You should see her on a good day," Tango said, turning back to the evidence.

* * *

After being assured that it was okay she was three hours late back to work, Devin filed a few more pieces of paperwork before clocking out. She hung out for a few more minutes at work, catching up with Matt and Kristen for a few minutes before heading out the back and to her car. As she drove home, she thought more and more about her life now and what it was going to be like without her brother. She realized that no matter what she thought, she wouldn't be alone in this. Making a quick decision, she made a turn and drove in the opposite direction.

She pulled up outside the massive white building and parked. She got out and followed the familiar labyrinthine of hallways to that room that had become like a home away from home for a while. When she stepped in the door, she was surprised to see someone already in there.

"Steve?" she ventured.

The man in question jumped, almost dropping the book he had been reading to the floor. He turned around and looked equally as shocked to see her there.

"Devin, hey, what are you- hey!" he stuttered, not quite sure why she was here, despite the fact that it was her brother in the hospital bed.

"What are you doing here?" she laughed softly at his slightly nervous demeanor.

"Oh, well, we've all been sort of coming and sitting with him during visiting hours. Making sure he's never alone and all," Steve said, standing from his chair and setting his book down in it.

"Oh." For the second time that day, Devin felt as if she could cry.

"Are you okay?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks, you know, for this. It really means a lot," she replied.

"No problem. You want me to give you a minute?" Steve asked, acknowledging the fact that it was her first visit in a month and a half.

"Yeah, I'll only be a few. I've got a lot of stuff to do today," Devin replied.

Steve smiled softly at her before leaving the room. She walked further into the room, picking up Steve's book and sitting down carefully in the chair, placing the book in her lap. She looked at the cover and laughed quietly, seeing that it was _Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets_.

"Hey," she began quietly, "I know it's been a while since I've been here and I'm sorry. I just, ugh, I don't know. I was afraid. You remember that time that I fell out of the tree in our front yard and I broke my arm? Remember how you wouldn't talk to me for days afterwards and I thought that you were mad at me? And then you told me that it wasn't my fault, and that you felt guilty because you knew that branch was loose and you didn't tell me, so you couldn't look at me because it reminded you of how guilty you were? I guess this is kinda like that. I've been a complete douche and I'm sorry. But I'm here now and that's all that matters. And I promise I'll come by more often to see you."

She smiled down at him before standing up and walking out of the room. Steve was leaning against the wall in the hallway. When he saw her emerge from the room, he pushed himself from the wall and walked towards her.

"So, had a complete turn around, have we?" he smiled at her as she handed his book back.

"I guess so," she replied, smiling and staring down at the floor.

"What made you see the light?" he asked, tucking the book under his arm.

"Tango. We went to lunch, and I don't know. Talking with him just made me see how unreasonable I was acting. I was pushing myself away, and it was ridiculous. I should have come around a long time ago," she replied.

"I don't think you were acting unreasonably, but I'm glad you've finally decided to let us help you through this," Steve said, smiling kindly at her.

She smiled back.

"Thank you. Not just for helping me, but for helping him too. I know he'd really appreciate it," she said sadly.

She turned and walked away before Steve could say anything. She headed out of the hospital and got in her car. She drove home and parked, thinking for a moment before starting her car again and pulling out of the driveway. She headed down the opposite street and pulled into a driveway she hadn't been in for a long time. She turned the car off and got up, going to knock on the door before she lost her nerve.

"Hell-,"

She grabbed a handful of Adam's shirt and pulled him to her, kissing him hard on the mouth. Before he'd even had time to react, she let go and pulled back. Only to realize it wasn't Adam.

"Oh my. I- I'm sorry. I thought you were Adam," Devin stuttered, blushing heavily.

"Uh, Adam. You got a friend out here," the guy said, in a sort of daze.

Devin saw Adam walk towards the door, looking at her in a very surprised way.

"Hey, can I be friends with her too?" the guy asked as Adam came and stood in the doorway.

"What?" Adam asked, confused.

"Can- can we talk privately?" Devin asked, still blushing.

"Sure," Adam replied, stepping outside and pulling the door closed behind him.

"No fair!" Devin heard the guy shout before the door cut him off.

"What was that about?" Adam asked, temporarily forgetting that he hadn't seen Devin in several months.

"I thought he was you. Sorry! I was going to make this really romantic gesture where I kissed you and pulled back and said something really romantic and then I messed it al-"

Adam cut her off by kissing her.

"Like that?" he asked slowly.

"Mhm. Just like that," Devin replied, eyes still closed.

"So, what did you want to tell me?" Adam asked, sticking his hands in his pockets.

"Just that I was sorry I was a complete idiot and I want to try and make this work between us. If you still wanted to, that is," Devin said quickly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but I've met someone else," Adam replied.

"Oh! Oh, alright, um then I'll just go," Devin responded, turning around and starting back to her car.

"I'm kidding, you dolt. Come here," Adam laughed, grabbing her wrist and pulling her into him for a hug.

"That wasn't funny," Devin said, leaning back to stare into his face.

"I'm sorry," Adam smiled, leaning down and kissing her on the nose.

After making plans to meet up the next day, because Adam had to stay and entertain his cousin Justin, who Devin had already been introduced to, Adam pointed out, laughing, Devin headed back to her house. She parked the car and actually got out this time. She walked into the house to see Patrick and Piers watching TV.

"Where were you today?" Devin asked Piers, referring to the fact that he wasn't at work.

Both boys looked up at her in shock, as usually she walked in and went and went straight to her room.

"I had the day off today. But I should have gone in, as apparently something big happened today," he said slowly.

"I realized I'd been having a pity party that should have been over months ago. So I stopped," she said simply, sitting down beside the two boys on the couch and grabbing some popcorn from the bowl.

"Sweet. Lost Boys just came on. You in?" Patrick asked.

"No doubt," Devin laughed, getting comfortable.


	20. Awakening

"And then she was like "Well, if I wouldn't have known it was real, I wouldn't have come with you," and I was like "You really believed we were going to find a dinosaur out here?"

Devin laughed as Josh Gates finished his story. She, Tango, Steve, Josh and Adam had gone out to eat before Josh went back to California.

"She sounds like a major space case," Adam laughed.

"Oh she was. We edited her out of most of the footage so she wouldn't be on the episode. Though we did keep it so we could pull it out and have a good laugh from time to time," Josh replied.

"You're horrible," Devin tried to keep the laugh out of her voice, but failing miserably.

"Do you remember that time when we were getting ready to do the live Halloween special at the Stanley Hotel, and that girl came up to you in a wedding dress and asked you to marry her?" Steve asked Josh.

"Oh man, that was the scariest moment of my life!" Josh exclaimed as the other laughed.

"You go off and investigate all these rumors of monsters and ghosts, and that was the scariest moment of your life?" Adam asked.

"All those things, there is a very good and almost positive chance that they are not real. This girl was very, very real," Josh explained.

"If you don't think they are real, why go off and investigate them?" Devin asked.

"Because I get paid too? No, I'm just kidding. Well, because there is always the chance that they are real. I always want to believe they are real, but there is always going to be that hint of doubt until I actually go out and look for myself," Josh clarified.

They sat around chatting for another half hour until Devin looked down at her watch.

"We really should be going. Patrick, Piers and Lucas are all at the house, waiting on us," Devin said to Adam.

"Oh yeah, Patrick rented that stupid movie. What was it again?" Adam asked as everyone stood up.

"I can't remember," Devin replied, pulling on her jacket.

"Yeah, I better be going too. I gotta get to bed. Plane leaves at like 6 tomorrow morning," Josh said.

They all walked to the door and headed outside.

"It was nice meeting you," Devin told Josh as they hugged.

"You too. If you're ever looking for a change, come out to California and look me up," he replied.

They said their goodbyes to everyone else. Devin and Adam headed to his car.

"He seems like a pretty cool dude," Adam said as they pulled out of the parking lot.

"He is," Devin agreed.

They drove in silence for a few minutes until Adam decided to break it.

"Have you made any more decisions about Josh?" he asked quietly.

"Not really. I think I should just go with my original plan and take him off next week, but I feel like I shouldn't do it at all. I just don't know what to do," Devin sighed, looking out the window.

"I'm no doctor, but I do know that people have woken up out of comas after 20 years. If you feel like you should leave him on life support, then that's what you should do. You're obviously not ready to let him go anyway," Adam replied.

"I suppose you're right," Devin replied after a minute.

He pulled into her driveway and they both got out of the car and headed into the house. The three boys were sitting on the couch, seemingly in a deep discussion about something. Or rather, Piers was reading a magazine and Patrick and Lucas were in a deep discussion about something. Upon walking closer to the couch, Devin realized it was Avatar.

"Dude, it's to show the subtle differences between the indigenous Na'vi and the Avatars. You really think they would make that big of a mistake?" Lucas was asking Patrick.

"Why would there be differences? The Avatars are just like Na'vi, it doesn't make any sense," Patrick replied.

"Because, the Avatars are created by mixing human DNA and Na'vi DNA. Didn't you pay attention during the movie?" Lucas asked, as if he'd explained it a hundred times.

"Yes, of course, I just don't see why they would give the Na'vi four fingers and the Avatars five. It's stupid," Patrick said.

"You're stupid," Lucas mumbled under his breath.

"You're both stupid. Are we gonna watch this movie or not?" Adam asked loudly, startling all three of them.

"Dude, you could give us some warning," Patrick exclaimed, his hand over his heart.

"Shut up. What movie did you guys rent? And I swear to God if it's Avatar, I'm going to kill you," Adam threatened.

Devin giggled as Piers said, "Do you really think I'd let them get that one again? Besides, we own it anyway."

"No, we got Grown Ups. It's supposed to be really funny, and plus we know about Devin's creepy obsession with David Spade," Lucas replied, throwing Devin a weird look.

"I'd so bone him," Devin replied with a dreamy sigh.

"Thanks," Adam replied sarcastically, sitting down on the couch on the other side of Piers.

She smiled at him hugely and dropped herself onto his lap as Patrick put the movie in.

* * *

Devin walked through the hallway to Josh's room. It was her day off, both from TAPS and the record store, so she thought she'd come out and spend the day with him. She reached his room and sat down in the little chair beside his bed, impressed that they'd changed it from the crappy little one to this slightly plushy arm chair.

She scooted the chair closer to Josh's bed, and dug her book out of her purse. She pulled it out, gripped it in one hand and Josh's hand in the other.

* * *

Devin sighed after about an hour of reading, placing her book on the bed beside Josh and standing up, stretching her stiff limbs before walking into the bathroom. Five minutes later, she walked out, looking down as she straightened her shirt before looking up and almost fainting in her tracks. Josh was still laying on the bed, with all of the machines hooked up to him, but he was also sitting her chair, looking curiously at her book.

"Catcher in the Rye? Seriously? I definitely didn't expect that from you," he said casually, flipping through the pages with disinterest.

"I thought I'd read some classics. Lucas lent it to me and it's kinda boring sitting in here with no one to talk to," she replied, not moving an inch.

"You could talk to me," Josh said in the same casual voice, still not looking at her.

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, you're in a coma," Devin replied.

"Yeah, but I can still hear stuff. Oh my God, relax, this is just a dream," he answered, finally looking at her and noticing her stiff posture.

She slowly walked over to him and sat down on the bed beside Coma Josh.

"So, how are you? You look pretty good, you know, considering," Dream Josh said, folding his hands in his lap.

"Considering what?" Devin asked.

"Considering you're my sister and I don't want to compliment you," he replied, shrugging his shoulders as if it should have been obvious.

She threw him an offended look as he continued.

"So how is everyone else?"

"Everyone's good," she shrugged not really knowing what to say.

He gave her a look and she realized what he was hinting at.

"Oh, you mean Ellie? Oh, she's pretty good too. She comes over every once in a while and we chat over coffee or something," Devin replied.

"Yeah, but only for the past couple of days," Josh said, once again in the casual tone of voice.

"How could you possibly know that?" Devin asked incredulously.

"Well, mostly I was guessing. But because you haven't been seeing anyone for the past few months," Josh answered, observing his hands in disinterest.

"You don't know that," Devin was suddenly defensive.

"Yes, I do. I was there with you when mom and dad died. I know how you are. You didn't leave me for the first two months, then I don't see you again for almost another month. But I'm glad you finally started socializing again. Who got you out of your depressive shell?" he asked, observing her face.

"Tango, actually. What was that about mom and died? Are you here to tell me you're going to die?" she asked, her voice rising slightly in panic.

"No, nothing like that. Just wanted to tell you that I'm glad you're out of your funk. And to tell you that I've been giving you signs for the past half hour that I was waking up."

Devin snapped her head up off the mattress, not knowing how or when she fell asleep. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, sitting back in her chair once more. She thought about the dream and how nice it was to talk to Josh, even if it only was a dream Josh. She smiled down at his sleeping face and squeezed his hand before remembering the last thing he'd said to her in the dream. That was when she felt a weak squeeze back.


	21. Never Let You Go

Devin stared intently down at Josh's face, looking for any kind of movement at all. She'd been in the same position for about an hour, ever since she'd woken up from her dream and felt that small squeeze in her hand. The doctor's had told her that most times it's a gradual process, waking up from a coma, and that it may not even mean he was waking up at all, that sometimes the body just twitched from inactivity, but she didn't care. She knew it was a squeeze, and knew that the dream was real. She wasn't moving.

"Hey, Devin. The hospital just called me. Is everything okay?"

Devin didn't need to move to know that it was Grant.

"Why did the hospital call you?" she asked, not looking away from Josh's face.

"Because I'm the emergency contact for both you and Josh. And they said that something was happening and they couldn't get you to leave," he said as he pulled a chair and sat beside her.

"He's waking up," Devin answered shortly.

"Really? How do you know?" Grant asked, trying to draw the girls attention away from Josh.

"He squeezed my hand," she replied.

"You know the doctor said that that could happen, and it didn't necessarily mean anything, right?" Grant asked gently.

"I know. I mean, ugh, well, this is going to sound stupid if I tell you, and you probably won't believe me anyway," Devin sighed, finally looking away from her brother.

"You do know what we do for a living, right? It's kind of our job to believe in the unbelievable," Grant smiled at her.

She smiled in return, "I sort of had a dream."

"What kind of dream?" he asked.

"Well, Josh sort of "came" to me in it, and- Oh God, I feel so dumb saying this out loud," Devin laughed, hiding her face in her hands.

"Hey, hey, don't feel dumb. Just tell me," he said, pulling her hands away from her face.

"Well, basically, it was him checking up on me, and telling me that he was glad that I was socializing again, and then he told me that he was waking up. And then when I woke up, I squeezed his hand and he immediately squeezed back," she replied, not looking at Grant.

"So that's why you've been sitting here for the past hour?" Grant asked.

"Yeah, you think I'm being dumb, don't you?" Devin asked.

"Not at all," Grant replied, smiling at her.

She returned his smile and went back to looking at Josh.

"You don't have to stay here with me," she said after about ten minutes of silence.

"I'll stay here for a little while longer. Just to make sure you're okay and to see if he does wake up soon," Grant replied.

And so they sat in silence for another hour, Devin watching Josh, and Grant watching Devin.

"Did, did you see that?" Devin asked, quite unsure of herself.

"What?" Grant asked, looking at Josh.

"His eyes. I think he blinked," Devin replied.

They both stared down at the young man as slowly, he blinked his eyes again before opening them completely and staring up at them. Grant heard a thud beside him and looked over in alarm to see Devin on the floor, having passed out and fallen out of her chair. He looked back at the boy on the bed, who was looking at him in shock.

"She's been doing that a lot lately," Grant said, pointing to the girl.

* * *

Devin slowly opened her eyes to see a white ceiling above her. She slowly sat up and looked around.

"Hey, babe."

She looked over to see Adam smiling at her.

"What happened?" she asked, rubbing her head.

"Your brother woke up and you passed out," he smiled.

It took a moment for his words to sink in. She turned to him quickly, questioning him with her eyes. He simply nodded at her.

In a flash, she'd jumped out of the bed and was racing down the hall, before realizing she had no idea where she was.

"This way." She looked back to see Adam pointing in the opposite direction.

She ran down the hall and found the room he was in. She burst in the door to see Grant, Jason, Steve, Tango, Patrick, Lucas, and Ellie sitting around the bed. They all looked up at her as she barreled through the door, but she didn't seen any of them. She could only focus on the boy laying in the bed, sitting up an smiling at her.

She wordlessly walked over to the bed and stood beside it. She was silent for a moment as he just smiled up at her.

"Is this a dream?" she asked seriously.

"No, it's not a dream."

She noticed that his speech was a heavily slurred and slightly sluggish, but she couldn't care less. She wanted to hug him, but was afraid that she might hurt him. So she settled for bursting into tears. She buried her face in her hands and just cried.

"Come here," he sighed, smiling as he opened his arms towards her.

Still sobbing, she crawled into the bed beside him as he hugged her. She didn't notice everyone else leaving to give them some time alone.

"I take it you missed me?" he asked as he rubbed her back.

"I thought I was never going to see you again," she sobbed into his hospital gown.

"Yeah, well here I am, good as new. Well, I mean, not really good as new, but you know what I mean," he laughed.

She looked up at him.

"What did the doctors say? Have they examined you yet? How long was I out?" she rambled.

"They say that I will most likely regain the ability to walk in the next few weeks, but I'll probably walk with a limp for the rest of my life due to a crack in my hip. They also said that my speech will probably clear up as well, but other than that, I should be fine. They also said that I might have some short term memory loss for the next month or so, but yeah. And you've been out for half an hour," he replied.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. I can't believe it. I can't believe it. I thought that when you were going to come out of the hospital the next time, it would be for your funeral. I almost-" she stopped, not able to bring herself to admit that she'd almost given up on him.

"Almost what?" he asked, looking down at her curiously.

"I was going to take you off life support next week," she whispered, not able to meet his eyes.

He didn't say anything for a moment, and she was sure he was angry at her, but then he spoke.

"I picked a helluva time to wake up then, huh?

* * *

Wow, it's been a while ha ha. This chapter was really hard for me, because I didn't know how to go about waking him up and making it seem real, and whether or not to make him have like brain damage or whatever. But I decided on this and hopefully you like it as well. Drop me a review to tell me what you think or to yell at me for taking so long. Anything, really.


	22. Heels Over Head

"Devin, sit down. I am fine," Josh sighed as his sister stood up to fluff the pillows behind his back.

"I just want you to be comfortable," she said defensively.

"I'm fine, I promise you," he said as she grudgingly sat back down.

It had been a week since Josh woke up, and four days since he was released from the hospital. He'd been staying at Devin's house, under her insistence, of course, until he could at least get used to the wheelchair he was currently restricted to. They were enjoying a rare quiet moment at the house, with everyone else out doing whatever to stay occupied in the small Rhode Island town.

Devin snuck a glance over at her brother. He was focusing on the tv, which was playing some movie that she could not pay attention to. Ever since he'd woken up, she couldn't help but stare at him. She'd been having dreams, or nightmares really, about what would have happened had she gone ahead and taken him off life support. She shuddered with the thought and turned back to look at the tv, not really seeing what was on.

"What's the matter?"

She looked back over at Josh. His speech had cleared up a bit, but it was still slurred and rather slow. The doctor said there was a good chance that it would stay that way, but that he also had a chance of recovering his full speech capabilities.

"Nothing," she replied, looking back to the tv, pretending to watch it.

"Don't think I haven't noticed you staring at me this past week. You're making it kind of making it obvious," he said slowly.

"I just, I just keep thinking what would have happened had I…" she trailed off, not meeting his eyes.

"If you'd taken me off life support? Well, you didn't, so stop worrying about it," he said.

"Yeah, but I almost did! I, I mean, what if I would have? I was so close to doing it. I would never have been able to forgive myself," she mumbled, placing her head in her hands.

Josh sighed before wheeling himself over to place himself in front of his sister.

"But you didn't. And that's all that matters," he said, pulling her face up to look at him.

She smiled at him sadly before leaning forward and hugging him. He hugged her back and they stayed like that for several minutes, just enjoying each other's company after the long break apart.

* * *

"Hey guys, so Josh Gates is going to be stopping in again on Friday to have us look over some evidence for him. He and the DT gang stayed an extra two nights in this abandon village in the Amazon, so he's got heaps of evidence to look over and he asked if we would help. Is there anyone that wants to volunteer?" Jason asked the next day at the GH headquarters.

"I'll totally volunteer. I need to get a good healthy dose of paranormal. I've been feeling so cut off lately," Devin said, raising her hand.

Jason laughed as both Steve and Tango raised their hands to volunteer as well.

"Alright, you three be in here at 12 on Friday then," he said, dismissing the group.

Devin grabbed her jacket and pulled her phone out of the pocket, hurredly checking her text messages to see if there was any from her brother. She subconsciously sighed in relieve to see the only text was from Adam.

'_Hey lady. You, me, tonight, somewhere semi-fancy, but really leaning more towards casual?'_

Devin laughed quietly to herself as she texted back.

'_Mmmmm…. I think I might have plans with my boyfriend. Sorry.'_

She had barely placed her phone back into her pocket before there was another text.

'_Sorry. I meant to send that to my other girlfriend. My bad.'_

'_Mr. Hedlund, are you considering me a girlfriend?'_

'_Psh, bitch please.'_

Devin laughed out loud at the last text, picturing his face while saying it. Steve and Tango looked over at her and smiled, knowing it had been a while since she'd genuinely laughed. She didn't notice though, too busy typing back a response.

'_Alright, alright fine. We can go out tonight.'_

'…_I was serious about that being to my other girlfriend.'_

'_Okay fine, I was serious about having plans with my boyfriend.'_

'_Who's your boyfriend?'_

'_Wouldn't you like to know?'_

"_Yes, I would actually.'_

'_It's… Piers.'_

'_LOLOLOLOLOL!'_

'…_..'_

'_Alright, I'll pick you up at 8. 3'_

Devin smiled at the little heart, sent one back herself, and put her phone back in her pocket. She looked up to see both Steve and Tango smirking at her from across the room.

"What?" she asked.

"Devin's got a boyfriend!" Steve cooed at her, Tango laughing at his side.

Devin blushed, "What? No I don't!"

Steve and Tango laughed at her denial before starting in on a chorus of 'Devin and Adam, sitting in a tree'. Devin playfully glared at the both of them before heading out the door, pulling on her jacket to protect her against the August air. She walked to the back parking lot and climbed in her car, starting it up and heading back to her house.

She pulled in the driveway five minutes later and headed into the house, to see Lucas and Josh sitting in front of the tv, watching some cheesy sci-fi movie.

"How was the meeting?" Josh asked, eyes straying to his sister for a second before going back to the tv.

"It was alright," she said, taking off her jacket and sitting down beside Lucas on the couch.

"What'd they want?" Lucas asked, not even bothering to look over at her.

"Some volunteers to go over some evidence for Destination Truth," she replied.

"I'm so coming to help. I feel so useless just sitting around the house," Josh said, looking away from the tv to face his sister.

Devin hesitated. On the one hand, she wanted Josh to stay at home and make as quick of a recovery as he could. On the other, she would hate to be stuck in the house all the time too. The only time he'd left in the past four days was for a check-up at the hospital the day before. Finally, she conceded.

"Alright, I'll text Jason and let him know," she said, pulling out her phone.

She sent a quick text asking if it was okay, and minutes later an enthusiastic reply saying it was more than okay. She smiled and let her brother know, before turning her attention to the tv.

* * *

"Well, you look lovely tonight," Adam said as they walked down the driveway to his car.

"You don't look so bad yourself," Devin smiled as he opened the passenger side door.

She slid in and he closed it before rushing around the front and climbing into the driver's side. He started the car and pulled out of the driveway.

"So where are we going?" Devin asked, looking out the window.

"I was thinking just dinner at Applebee's, because it's semi-formal but really leaning more towards casual," he said, quoting his earlier text.

Devin laughed and agreed that it did indeed sound nice.

"Do you want to be my girlfriend?" Adam asked, abruptly and out of nowhere.

"What?" Devin asked, confused.

"Well, I mean, I kinda assumed earlier, and I don't know. I've been telling people I have a girlfriend, even though it's only been two weeks or something, and if you think that's moving too fast, I totally understand," he said, mostly in one breath.

Devin could tell it's been on his mind all day, and that he was really nervous about it. Instead of making him sweat it, like she normally would, she answered him honestly.

"I think that sounds great, Boyfriend," she smiled slightly, peering over at him.

She saw his face visibly relax, and he reached over and grabbed her hand, squeezing it slightly. She gave it a squeeze back as they continued on to Applebee's in a comfortable silence.

Devin laughed as she and Adam walked up the walkway to her front porch. She'd said she was fine walking the twenty feet from his car to her front door, but Adam had insisted that a proper gentleman walked a lady to her front door after a date. She'd just smiled and laughed at how corny he was being, but conceding anyway.

"I had fun tonight," she said as they reached her front door.

"Me too. I thought my other girlfriend was the fun one, but you sure proved me wrong," he joked.

They stood in silence for a few seconds, trying to figure out what to do next. Devin thought that this was probably the part where the girl invited the guy in, where he spent the night for the first time, and it was halfway from her brain to her mouth when Adam spoke.

"So, I'll text you tomorrow?" he asked, smiling at her.

"Um, yeah. Yeah, that sounds good," she said, recovering from her momentary lapse of being interrupted.

He smiled at her before leaning forward and placing a soft kiss on her lips, turning and walking back to his car before she could even respond. She smiled, in a daze slightly, before turning around and heading into the house.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the little harlot," Josh immediately said as she stepped into the room, closing the door behind her.

"Shut up," she laughed, going over and sitting on the couch beside Lucas.

"So how was your date?" Lucas asked.

"It was good," she replied vaguely, so incredibly thankful that she didn't invite Adam in.

She couldn't imagine how embarrassing it would have been for her to have to walk towards her bedroom with a guy in front of her brother. She'd never hear the end of it.

"That was all? Good? Why didn't you invite him in?" Josh goaded, as if he could read her mind.

"Because, we're not far enough in our relationship to be doing… that," she said, deciding that it was probably a good thing that he didn't come in with her, as it was really soon.

"You guys are in a relationship now? And what? Sex?" Josh asked, laughing as his sister squirmed.

"Yes, we're in a relationship, and yes, that," Devin replied.

"You can't even say the word sex?" Josh laughed.

"Oh my God, are you a virgin?" Lucas asked suddenly.

"NO! I'm not, I just, uh, don't feel comfortable discussing this kind of stuff with you guys, especially you, Josh," she answered.

"Oh man, Josh, your sister is a prude," Lucas laughed, turning back to the tv.

"Poor Adam," Josh fake sighed, as if genuinely concerned about the issue.

"I'm going to bed," Devin said suddenly, the air becoming super thick with awkwardness.

"Aw, we made her uncomfortable," Josh said, watching as she got up and walked down the hallway to her bedroom.

Lucas laughed as he flipped the channel on the tv.

"Are you a virgin?" Josh asked suddenly.

Lucas dropped the remote suddenly, looking at Josh in shock.

"What? N-no, I've been with tons of girls, tons," Lucas stuttered.

"Aw, you are! We need to get you laid. You're a good looking dude, why have you not had a lady friend before? And not the type you pay for," Josh asked.

"I, uh, I've had a girlfriend before, but she wanted to wait until marriage, which I was okay with, but then we broke up anyway. And I just get really nervous around girls," Lucas admitted.

"Well, luckily you're friends with the ultimate dude, so don't worry. I'll have you laid within a month," Josh bragged, wheeling himself to the kitchen for a beer.

Lucas indeed looked very worried.

* * *

Ugh, I know this one is kind of crap. Sorry. So, what are you guys thinking of Adam? Liking him? Disliking him? And I honestly have no idea where the sex talk at the end came from. I was just writing and when I got done, there it was. Anyway, here you are.


	23. How We Roll

"Please let me help you," Devin cried as Josh tried to make his way from the front seat to his wheelchair.

"Devin, I'm fine. I've been maneuvering this chair for like two weeks now. I can do it myself," Josh sighed for the third time as he successfully swung himself into the chair, "besides, I'm supposed to be trying out walking anyway."

"Not for another week and you know it," Devin scolded as she pushed him into the TAPS headquarters.

"Hey, dude! Didn't expect to see you in here!" Tango said as he spotted the pair, walking over to go talk to them.

"Yeah, dude, I had to practically force her to let me come. She only lets me go to the doctor," Josh laughed, gesturing at his sister behind him.

"Only for your own good," she mumbled under her breath, though the two boys still heard her.

They laughed and Tango showed them which room they would be reviewing the evidence, Steve and Josh Gates already in there. They looked up briefly from their conversation, gave a nod of acknowledgment, and went back to talking. It wasn't a second later before Steve did a double take.

"Dude, what are you doing here?" he asked, shocked at seeing Josh.

"I made her let me tag along. Even if I can't help, I still needed to get out of the house," he replied.

"You act like I'm mistreating you there or something," Devin defended, crossing her arms.

"You might as well be. You won't even let me watch Transformers," Josh said sadly.

"Only because I've had to sit through it twice a day for the past two weeks," she replied.

All three men turned to Josh, and he nodded smugly.

"I don't believe we've met. I'm Josh," Josh (Hall) said, sticking his hand out towards Josh Gates.

"I'm Josh too," Gates laughed, shaking his outstretched hand.

Gates explained that he worked for the show Destination Truth and that they just needed help sifting through some of their evidence.

They began looking through the evidence and had been at it for about an hour when they decided to take a break.

"Do you need something to drink?" Devin asked, looking at her brother.

"I can get it myself," he replied quickly rolling out of the room before coming back in and asking if anybody else want anything.

They all said no, and he rolled back out. Devin watched him roll out with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Hey you okay?"

She looked over at Steve to see all three men looking at her with varying expressions of concern on their face.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she recovered quickly, smiling at them.

"Hey, he's just having a hard time coping with the fact that he's restricted. He's trying to still be independent. I know you want to help him, but just give him a little space, okay?" Tango said gently.

"I'm being overbearing, aren't I?" she asked, laughing nervously.

"Just a smidge," Tango smiled at her.

Josh Gates just looked utterly confused, so Devin decided to fill him in.

"About four months ago, my brother got into a car accident and went into a coma. I really thought I was going to lose him and I was horribly emo until about three weeks ago. Then, two weeks ago, he woke up, and so I've been kind "clingy" I guess, as I almost lost him," she explained.

"Whoa, intense. Yeah, I can see why you're acting super protective over him. It's only understandable," he sympathized.

"Thank you," she said, as Josh rolled back into the room.

"Dude's, what happened to all the M-Dews? There were like none at all in the fridge," he said, holding up a Dr. Pepper can as if to prove his point.

"You're the only one who drinks that stuff, and you haven't been around, so we haven't bought any," Steve explained.

"Alright, I guess I forgive you. Devin, go make me a sandwich," he replied, looking to his sister.

"Okay," she said, walking out of the room.

"Wait, what? No, you're supposed to say go make your own sandwich, and then I do. You're not supposed to actually do it! Damn, I hate this chair," Josh said moodily.

The other guys just laughed at him.

* * *

"I hate this game. I'm no good at it," Devin sighed, looking down at her cards.

"Devin, it's Uno. It's not exactly that hard," Josh laughed, looking at his own cards.

The five of them had abandoned looking at evidence after three hours in favor of board games. Sadly, all they could find was Uno.

Steve laid down a blue four, "Uno."

"Damn," Devin said as she counted her own cards, which added up to eleven.

"How can you possibly have that many cards still?" Gates asked, gesturing to his own four cards.

Devin looked around the table. Josh had three and Tango had four as well.

"Because she can never remember to call out "Uno". And because she leans her hand way forward and I can totally peek at her cards," Josh replied, laughing and looking over her shoulder as if to prove his point.

"Douche," she grumbled, pulling her cards closer to her chest.

Gates, whose turn it was before her, looked at her apologetically, "Sorry."

He laid down a blue Skip.

"This sucks," she sighed as Josh, who was after her, tried to change the color to yellow.

Tango laid down a yellow one. Steve picked up a card from the pile before laying a red one on the discard pile.

"Uno."

Gates again looked at her apologetically, "It's the only red I have."

He laid down a red Draw Two.

"I seriously hate this game," Devin said, adding two cards to bring her total up to thirteen.

Josh studied his cards carefully before laying down another Wild card, "Green."

Play continued until it was Gates turn again.

"Sorry," he winced, placing a Draw Four Wild on the discard pile.

Devin grumbled to herself as she drew her cards and Gates said "Uno. And blue."

Josh burst out laughing, "You're killing me, Gates. Killing me."

Play continued until the standing was Josh Gates with three, Steve with one, Tango with five, Josh with four, and Devin with 23.

"I don't think I've ever played this game with someone that sucks as much as you," Steve laughed, placing down his last card, a red four, and winning the game.

"I can't help that Uno is stupid," Devin said as they all put their cards in the middle to be put back in the box.

"Sure Devin, blame the game," Josh laughed.

She glared at him before quickly stuffed the cards back in the box, not bothering to make sure they were the same side down.

"You can't put them in there like that!" Tango cried, clearly horrified.

"Why not?" Devin asked, looking down at the box.

"They're facing different ways," Tango said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Okay…" Devin replied as she slowly handed the box over to Tango.

He quickly dumped the cards out and set to work on making sure they all faced the same way.

"How much more evidence do we have to review?" Devin asked Gates.

"Hm. About 44 hours. Give or take," he said.

"Okay, so there are five of us, so we just split it into five?" she asked.

"Yeah, I guess. But we should do it tomorrow, cause I'm beat. Uno seriously takes the energy out of me," Gates replied.

"I'm not tired because we played Uno, but I am tired. We should reconvene tomorrow morning at like 8," Steve said.

"9," Tango amended.

"10," Josh replied.

They all agreed on ten and said their goodbyes. Devin let Josh wheel himself out as she followed behind him. He got himself into the car with no trouble and she stowed his wheelchair in the trunk.

"That was fun. Josh Gates is a pretty cool dude," Josh said as they made their way home.

Devin just smiled and nodded, happy that things were finally starting to get back to normal. Or rather, as normal as things in her life could


	24. Moron

"Seriously, Josh. You're not going," Devin said, shutting her trunk with finality.

"What? Come on! I can stay at base and monitor the… monitors," he said, rolling around to meet her at the front of the car.

"No, maybe next time, but you just got out of the hospital three weeks ago. I'm sorry, but not this time, Plus, you have physical therapy. Do you not want to get better?" Devin sighed, not looking at her brother.

She knew what expression would be on his face, and she also knew that she would probably give in if she looked at him.

"Just-just stay here with Patrick. Please. I just want you to get better as fast as possible, and it's not going to happen with the stress of traveling and moving all over the place," she said.

She finally looked over at Josh to see him pouting, but not arguing anymore. She knew at once that he understood her reasoning and wasn't going to fight her anymore, but that he'd still be a brat about it.

She finished packing the car and headed back into the house, to see Patrick sitting on the couch watching TV, with Ellie beside him, and Josh pouting in his wheelchair next to the couch.

"I am sorry," she said looking at her brother who was adamantly refusing to meet her eye.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, just go," he said grumpily.

She turned around and headed out the door. She made her way to the car and just as she was about to get in it, she heard her name being called. She turned slightly to see Josh rolling towards her. She stepped back out of the car and met him halfway.

"I don't ever want our parting words to be angry ones," he said, sounding uncharacteristically serious for once.

He held out his arms for a hug and she leaned down and embraced him.

"Stay safe," he whispered in her ear.

"You know I will," she replied as she stood back up.

She got into the car and waved at him as she drove off towards TAPS headquarters. She pulled into the parking lot ten minutes later and got out, throwing her bags in the back of the van as she did so. Steve wasn't going to be able to go on this one, so she was going to be riding in the van with Tango. She walked into the building to see everyone there, including Josh Gates.

"Hey, I thought you were leaving yesterday?" she asked him as she sat down.

"I was going to, but you guys are heading out towards Cali anyway, so we decided I'd ride with you guys to Arizona, help with the investigation, and then catch a plane from there," he explained.

"Oh cool," she replied as Grant began to explain what was going to happen on the case.

Soon enough, Devin, Tango, Gates, Jason, and Grant were heading out from headquarters.

"Small group this time," Devin commented as they drove towards the highway.

"Yeah, with Steve being sick and missing out, it's a good thing Josh was here or we would have been a man down," Tango replied.

They continued to make small talk as they drove along, passing the hours until Jason and Grant decided to stop for lunch. As they got out and walked towards the door, Devin's phone went off. She looked down to see her house phone number on the caller ID.

"Hello?" she asked, slowing down slightly.

The four guys also slowed down, curious to see what was keeping her.

"Hey, what time is my physical therapy appointment?" Josh asked.

"It's at three," Devin replied, looking down at her watch to see that it was already two thirty.

"Oh, well, I'm going to call and reschedule it," he said.

"No, don't do that," Devin replied, scolding him.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because, you have to go. Just go get it over with," Devin replied.

"Ugh, but I don't want to!" he whined.

"You have to go, Josh," she said tiredly, rubbing her forehead.

"Gag, okay. Let me call Ellie," he replied.

"I better not find out you canceled it," Devin warned.

"God, give me some credit woman," Josh replied, hanging up the phone.

Devin sighed and called Ellie to tell her to make him go. After she got off the phone with her, the five of them continued into the restaurant.

As they sat down at the table, Devin got a text on her phone.

**From Josh:**__

_**Low blow calling Elle, but thanks for the concern. Sorry I hung up on you earlier. Less than three you.**_

She sent a text back telling him she loved him too, and ordered her food, getting absorbed into the conversation.

* * *

"Okay, Devin, you've got your own hotel room, Tango, you and Josh are sharing and then Grant and I will share," Jason explained, handing out room keys.

Devin accepted hers and picked up her bags. She was interrupted once again by her phone going off. She looked down to see a text.

**From Adam:**

_**Miss you like crazy. Have a good night xoxo**_

She snorted out her laughter at the 'xo' part and typed a quick reply back.

_**Way to be gay, bro. Miss you too. See you in a few days :).**_

"What's got you all smiley?"

She looked up to see Tango and Josh Gates looking at her suspiciously.

"Nothing. Just Adam being super gay," she replied, laughing.

"Who is Adam?" Josh asked, confused.

"Her boyfriend. Isn't that kind of a bad thing for you?" Tango asked, turning to Devin.

"Good point," she responded, laughing at the confused look on Josh Gates' face.

This time, her phone actually rang. She looked down to see Patrick's name on the caller ID.

"Someone is popular tonight," Josh laughed as she answered it.

"What's up, Pat?" she asked.

"You didn't shop for groceries before you left!" he cried, clearly scandalized.

"Are you serious?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm serious! I need sustenance, and I don't know the first thing about groceries," he said.

"Just get food that you like," she asked, concerned at how confused he was about grocery shopping.

"But I like it when you do it! You always know exactly what I like, and stuff," he pouted.

"Just go get food that you like. It's seriously not that hard, Patrick. Bring Piers or Adam with you if it's such a big deal."

He let out a huff of air, "If I must."

They said their goodbyes and hung up.

"A twenty-two year old boy-man. That's who I'm living with," she sighed as she put her phone back in her pocket and picked up her bags.

The two others just laughed as they walked to their separate rooms.


	25. Live A Little

"Okay, Devin, I want you to monitor base camp first. Josh, you go with Tango to the basement, and Grant and I will take the first floor bedrooms," Jay instructed.

Devin sighed as she sat behind the monitors. She was a little disappointed that she was going first at the base camp, but knew that she'd get her chance to investigate later. She leaned her head on her hand, staring at the screens and preparing for a long night.

After about an hour of staring at the monitors, she pulled out a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that she'd made earlier at the hotel and began munching on it, still staring at the screens. In the bottom right one, Josh Gates and Tango came into frame. She decided to watch them for a few minutes, in case they saw anything and needed her to confirm it. Sure enough, five minutes later, a call for base camp was heard.

"Base camp to Tango. What's up?" she said into the walkie talkie.

"_You watching the monitor we're on?" _

"Yeah," she replied, waiting to hear what he had to say.

"_Did you hear that banging sound too?"_

"Nah, but when we review evidence I'll look for it," she said.

A confirmation was sent back and so she continued to stare at the four little screens in boredom. She tiredly rubbed her face before Jason sent out the call to meet back ay base camp.

After a few minutes the four guys were crowded around the little desk with all the computers and equipment on it.

"Alright, we'll switch it up this time. Dave, you go with Grant back upstairs, Devin, you go with Josh to the basement, and I'll stay here and monitor base camp," Jay instructed.

Everyone nodded and split up into their separate groups. Josh and Devin made their way into the basement.

"This is like the creepiest basement I've ever seen," Josh said quietly from behind Devin.

"I guess I probably could have mentioned my slight phobia of basements before this moment," Devin replied back, looking around with unease.

"You're afraid of basements?" Josh asked, "Why?"

"Horror movies always take place in basements. Going into a basement, especially one like this, just screams "Murder me!"" she replied, shrugging her shoulders.

He laughed quietly and looked around for a place to sit while they did the investigation. He found a chair over in the corner and sat down, taking in his surroundings.

Devin stayed in the middle of the room, turning around in a circle slowly so the little camera in her hand could pick up anything out of the ordinary.

"Dude, check this out!"

Devin turned around to see Josh standing at a closet on the other side of the basement, the door open and his camera hanging loosely at his side while his other hand was busy looking at whatever he'd found in the closet.

Devin walked over and peered in, seeing a variety of dead animals, most of which looked to be stuffed and some of which looked like they were about to be stuffed.

"What the eff is this?" she asked in disgust.

"Did you seriously just sensor yourself?" Josh asked, turning away from the animals to look at Devin.

"We're looking at a bunch of dead animals, and the only thing you're concerned with is the fact that I said 'eff'?" Devin asked in shock.

"Well we knew this was a taxidermist when you guys took the case, so I'm not all that surprised by the animals. This is obviously where he does it. And I'm not concerned. I just think it's super funny," Josh replied, shrugging his shoulders with a laugh and turning back to look at the animals.

"Force of habit. And I didn't know he was a taxidermist," Devin replied.

"Do you think, like some of the paranormal activity might have something to do with the animals?" Josh asked, looking back over at Devin.

"What? Like animal ghosts?" Devin asked, walking back over to the center of the room and away from the disgusting animals.

"Yeah. I mean, he says most of the activity is down here. So it either has something to do with high EMF readings or the animals. And Jay and Grant didn't say anything about high EMFs," Josh explained.

"I don't know. I mean, I've never heard of animal ghost, but I don't see why that couldn't happen," Devin replied slowly.

"If it is, I bet it's this guy that's haunting him."

Devin looked over to see Josh holding a really ugly dog, if that's what you could call it, it's teeth bared. Or that could've just been the way it's face was.

"Gross, Josh, put that down!" Devin cried, turning away in disgust.

"Hey, this was someone's baby once. It needs love too, Devin."

She turned around to tell him off and screamed in fright. Josh had somehow managed to sneak up behind her and put the animal extremely close to her face.

He laughed as she tried to calm her racing heart.

"_Hey, is everything alright down there? I heard screaming."_

Devin glared at Josh as he smirked and grabbed the walkie talkie, "Yeah, Devin just got a fright is all. No need to worry."

"_Alright, just checking," _Grant's voice floated back through the walkie talkie.

"You're such a jerk," Devin glared.

"Whatever, you know you love it," Josh replied, tossing the dog back into the closet and shutting the door.

She ignored him and went back to scanning the room, looking for anything that might be paranormal.

"Can you imagine if Steve saw this thing?" she heard from behind her.

Devin turned around to see Josh leaning down, looking at something on the floor. She walked over to him and peered over his shoulder.

"Good God, that thing is friggin' huge!" Devin exclaimed, looking at possibly the biggest spider she'd ever seen, "and yeah, Steve would flip the eff out."

Josh pulled out his phone and snapped a quick picture of it, making sure the flash was on. He looked at the picture he'd taken with dissatisfaction.

"Put your hand down there next to it so there's something to compare its size to," Josh said, deleting the picture he had.

"I'm not putting my hand near that thing," Devin stated.

"What, you afraid of spiders too?" Josh asked, looking up at her.

"No, but I am afraid of getting a finger bitten off," Devin replied.

"Fine, if I put my hand down there will you take a picture?" he asked.

"Sure."

He handed her his phone and stuck his hand down next to the spider, close enough so that you could see it in the picture but not close enough so that it the spider decided to attack he wouldn't have enough time to pull it away. She snapped the picture and handed the phone back to him.

He looked at it, made sure it was okay, and smiled as he hit send.

"You're a jerk," Devin said, watching over his shoulder as he sent it to Steve.

"You think it's funny," Josh replied, standing up to his full height.

"Oh, I think it's freaking hilarious. Doesn't make you any less of a jerk," she smiled.

* * *

**So, some might consider me a major douche, which is okay, cause I totally am. But here is the next installment. I've got a few ideas for the next chapter, but I make no promises as to when it'll be out.**


	26. That Girl

Devin played with Steve's phone as they sat in a meeting a few days later. He'd left it on the table and went off to do something else, so it was fair game, really. The first thing she did was text Josh Gates and ask him to resend that spider picture to set as Steve's background. The next thing she did was pull up his Twitter account and update it with several embarrassing Tweets. Before she could do anything else, however, he came back into the room.

"What are you doing with my phone?" he asked suspiciously.

"Checking the time. Mine died earlier," she shrugged, handing him back the phone.

He nodded in satisfaction and shoved it into his jeans pocket.

"Do you know anything about this meeting?" she asked.

They were the only two there so far and were a little early as it was.

"New case, I'm assuming. Or we're going to discuss the Halloween special, as it's only a few months away," he replied.

"OH yeah, I forgot about that. Know where we're going?" Devin asked.

"No, but it'll probably be some well-known creep factory. Only way to go on Halloween," Steve replied.

"What is a 'creep factory'?" Devin laughed.

"Shut up," Steve defended.

Before Devin could make fun of him anymore, the rest of TAPS showed up and the meeting commenced. As it turned out, it was a meeting discussing the location for the Halloween special. Jason and Grant didn't have anywhere picked out, but they were open to suggestions. By the end of the meeting, they had it narrowed down to the Stanley Hotel, Eastern State Penitentiary, and some place in Ireland, which Steve was obviously against.

After the meeting, Devin drove home to see that no one was there. Feeling pleased that for once she'd have the place to herself, she decided to run a bath in her oversized tub and enjoy the quiet and solitude.

* * *

"Dude, what are we doing here?"

Josh looked over at Lucas with an exasperated look on his face.

"We are picking you up a chick," Josh replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I don't need your help picking up a chick," Lucas said, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back in his chair.

Josh shook his head and looked around the food court once more. The mall was a perfect place to pick up slutty girls, which was exactly the kind of girl he needed.

"You, uh, you haven't told anyone else about me being a- well, you know?" Lucas asked suddenly, looking at Josh with a slightly panicked look on his face.

"No, man. Code of secrecy. No one will know, except the lady friend we pick up for you, cause really, you can't hide that from someone your sleeping with. Well, I mean, I guess you can if you're a natural, but something tells me you're not going to be," Josh said, surveying Lucas critically.

Lucas looked offended for a moment then turned back to his fries.

"I'm not sure about this. I thought your first time was supposed to be with someone special," Lucas mumbled, dipping one of his fries into ketchup.

"What are you, a girl? Just man up. How about that girl?" Josh asked, pointing across the food court.

"I'm pretty sure that girl is a prostitute, " Lucas said dully, spying the girl Josh was pointing at.

"Nah, she just looks like a prostitute. Which means she's easy," Josh explained.

"Can't we just go home? I'm tired and it smells like crap in here," Lucas whined.

"God, you really are such a lady. Dine, we'll go. But we're coming back tomorrow," Josh grumbled, taking the brakes off of his wheelchair and rolling away in a huff.

Lucas picked up the trash that Josh had neglected and threw it away before hurrying after Josh. He wasn't really paying attention, because the next thing he knew he was crashing to the ground, having run into someone.

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!" he cried, trying to disentangle himself from said person.

"Oh it's alright. I totally wasn't watching where I was going."

Lucas looked up to see a pretty girl in front of him, about his age with brown hair and stunning brown eyes. She smiled at him and stood up, grabbing his hand and pulling him to his feet as well.

"I'm Kara," she said, shaking the hand still in hers.

"Lucas," he replied in a daze.

"Hey guys, sorry to break this up, but Lucas, you gotta get me to my physical therapy appointment."

Lucas looked over in confusion at Josh, who had just rolled up and was smirking at him.

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you late," Kara exclaimed.

"Uh, no, that's okay. We're not late," Lucas replied, looking at Josh in confusion still.

"Yeah, but we will be. I'm sorry, um, I didn't get your name?" Josh asked.

"Kara," she replied.

"Right, sorry, Kara, but we gotta go. To make it up, we should hang later. Why don't you give your number to Lucas here and we'll meet up later?" Josh asked.

"Um, yeah, okay," Kara smiled, pulling a pen and tiny slip of paper from her purse.

She wrote he number down and gave it to Lucas. She waved goodbye to the two boys and walked off.

"What the hell was that?" Lucas asked as they walked away to the car, "You don't have a physical therapy appointment, and even if you did, Devin always insists on taking you when she's here, and when she's not, she makes Adam do it."

"I thought to get you laid I would need to just find a slutty girl, but since you seem to be Mr. Sensitive over here, I decided I needed to be your wingman to meeting a girl you could actually go out with," Josh explained, grinning.

"So what was all that lying and crap? Why didn't you just let me ask her out?" Lucas asked.

"First off, you never would have asked her out. You are way to freaking shy around girls. Secondly, this way you guys can become friends before dating. That makes it a lot easier when you get to the intimate stuff. Thirdly, I just made you look super good. Now she thinks that you spend your spare time helping out your friend in a wheelchair," Josh stated proudly.

"Yeah, and what happens when you don't need that wheelchair anymore?" Lucas asked, raising his eyebrows slightly.

"I keep it and every time she comes around I pretend I'm still in it," Josh shrugged as if it were no big deal.

"Yeah, cause that won't end in disaster," Lucas groaned, following Josh over to the car.

* * *

**Did something a little different this time. Hope you like it. **


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